Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

26. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the functions that will be transferred from central Government to local government after the local property tax is retained in local areas from 2015 onwards; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11883/14]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

A key objective of the Government’s Action Programme for Effective Local Government is to develop a system of local government that will act as the primary vehicle for governance and public service at local level. To achieve this, the Action Programme, together with the Local Government Reform Act 2014, has sought to address the significant weaknesses in the current local government system and set out a realistic and progressive pathway over the coming years to broaden the scope of public service delivery through local government.

Already, a significant enhancement of the local government role is being achieved through the establishment of Local Enterprise Offices to provide the local micro-enterprise support service under legislation currently before the Oireachtas. The Local Government Reform Act 2014 also provides for further significant enhancement of the local government role in economic development at regional and local levels and for alignment of the local and community development sector with local government.

In addition, section 45 of the 2014 Act provides for an expansion of the provisions of section 72 of the Local Government Act 2001, to enable the functions of State Bodies, as well as Government Departments, to be devolved to local authorities, subject to prior consent by the relevant Ministers and approval by Government.  It is envisaged that various central government functions, as set out in the Action Programme, will be devolved at an early date , for example in areas such as tourism, ports, national parks, and rural transport.  Devolution will proceed on the basis of assurance that adequate funding, staffing and any other necessary resources will be available to enable local authorities to perform effectively any additional functions. The Action Programme also provides for central retention of existing overall responsibility for policy, funding and accountability where a function transfers to local government.

The initial devolution measures will form part of a more substantial long-term widening of the role of local government, as the measures in the reform programme to strengthen the structures, funding, governance and operational efficiency of local government take effect, and the capacity of the system generally increases.