Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 235: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government if he is considering new models of management structure for local Government in view of the ongoing failure by the current management structures to deliver proactive local services in a timely and efficient manner. [24609/07]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
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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, and will set out options for reform in advance of a subsequent White Paper. Issues to be considered in the Green Paper include the provision of quality customer service to the public and ensuring a proper balance of power at local levels between the manager and the elected representatives. Work on the Green Paper should be finalised by the end of the year, with a White Paper to follow next year.

Notwithstanding that improving customer service will be a cornerstone of the local government reform process, it should be noted that local authorities have led the way on a range of initiatives aimed at improving service delivery in recent years. These include customer action plans, the decentralisation of services, a greater focus on the use of ICT to deliver services, the putting in place of customer complaint and consultation procedures, and the introduction of local government wide service indicators. The third annual Service Indicators Report, which was published in August 2007, measured the performance of local authorities across a range of services in a uniform way. It is my intention to ensure that local government in Ireland makes further substantial progress on customer service as part of the reform agenda.