Mark Wall (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I welcome everyone and thank them for their contributions, which have fed, as other members have said, into what we are trying to do here. The most important thing is we want a report that reflects all the contributions, but also one that works and does not sit on some shelf as previous ones have. There has been mention of previous reports going back to the 1970s, etc. We want to reform local government and that is the most important consideration we can state today and what this committee is all about.

I will start with the town councils, because it was the biggest mistake. I am aware it has been stated at previous meetings we have had. I take from what Dr. Quinn and Dr. Callanan have said there was a mention of strengthening the role of municipal districts. They might tease that out a bit more. Would that be at the expense of not bringing back town councils? I have said this before, but I just do not think municipal districts do what they say they do. That is why we must go back to town councils. I was a proud member of a town council for five years. It really was at the heart of the town, which in this particular case was Athy. We met the people on the street and those people knew their town councillors. I find that what happens in municipal districts - and this is being mentioned again today - is that many of the decisions are being made by people far away and in the far reaches of north Kildare, in many cases. That is wrong and it is why we need to get back to town councils. The Cathaoirleach has said this and has proposed a change as well, which we can obviously consider.

The reserved functions have been mentioned again.

The planning Bill that is coming through is another attack on local government as far as I am concerned. There is no other way of describing it. Mr. Sheahan mentioned Part 8 planning. What came across from the contributions of other councillors in recent weeks is that town teams are being established, for example. We are bringing up people from localities at the expense of the elected person. This is all about those who put their names forward and are elected. It has been mentioned by everybody I have listened to today that the elected person is from the community and represents the community. These town teams do not reflect that. They are picking one of those elected representatives and leaving three or four behind. That is wrong and needs to change. I put that on the record again today.

We have spoken about the regional government structures and I would love to hear what people think of them. There is a need for regional investment and structures. We have asked in the past if there is a need for regional government at the cost of local authorities. As has been said at this committee previously, there is a fear that local authorities do not trust, for want of a better description, regional assemblies. Cross-Border co-operation and investment in roads, etc., is important. It must have a role in the future of local government. I would love to hear more contributions about regional assemblies.

I will move to promotional work for the work of councillors. I was particularly struck by those who put their names forward in some places because their intention was not only to change local government or national government but to change the world. We need promotional work on the work that a councillor does, day in, day out, to reflect the hard work they do. Some of the electorate believes that councillors have more power than they have. We discussed promotional work the last day and that work needs to be put in by every representative. I know LAMA and AILG do their very best in that regard but they need support through local radio and local newspapers, etc., to maintain that. Promotional work needs to be done because that is how we can attract people into local government.

We also need more women in government. That has to be said at every opportunity. We rank 103rd in the world in our national Parliament, which is simply not good enough. Ms Kane was right in what she said about the addresses of candidates. They should have the option not to include their addresses. Mr. Sheehan mentioned accelerating change and that is what we need to do. He might come back on how we can do that.