Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 103: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government the reason urban councillors are finding that they are unable to make representations for constituents who voted for them due to the fact that they are deemed to be outside the town boundary; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22734/07]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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The Local Government Act 1994 provided that the boundaries of certain town councils could be altered by regulation, solely for local electoral purposes, following agreement by the relevant local elected councils. This was done in order to extend the franchise to individuals living in built up areas that form part of the towns but are outside of the towns' administrative boundaries. These provisions do not prevent councillors making representations on behalf of constituents to the relevant local authority.

It is also open to any local authority to initiate an application for a boundary alteration to have effect for all statutory functions. A number of applications for town authority boundary alterations, to have effect for all purposes, have been determined and implemented in recent years.

Irrespective of the precise location of the boundary between town and county, the Local Government Act 2001 has facilitated improved access, interaction, linkages and service provision for all towns and areas with their respective county councils. A modernised legal framework and structures at local level are in place providing the necessary powers and flexibility to local authorities to work in partnership to co-ordinate the provision of integrated public services.

In addition, in accordance with the Programme for Government, my Department will be publishing a Green Paper on local government reform in the coming months. The Green Paper will examine a number of issues with the objective of making local government more transparent and responsive, including the provision of quality customer service to the public, and certain issues relating to town councils. The reform process presents an opportunity to strengthen town and county structures nationally.

As part of the reform process I will be giving consideration to Part 11 of the Local Government Act 2001 which provided for a Local Government Commission, but which has not been commenced. It was envisaged that the proposed Commission would make formal recommendations on boundary changes between local authorities.