Dempsey U-turn on dual mandate his `Stalingrad'

The scrapping of Government plans to ban TDs from sitting on local authorities was described as the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey's "Stalingrad" in the House yesterday.

The Minister had failed to deliver the knock-out blow to those who wished to retain the dual mandate, said Mr Brian Hayes (Fine Gael, Dublin South-West) who called on the Minister to resign. "He has suffered a humiliating climbdown in his efforts to placate the four Independent members who actually support the Government." The four Independent members did not make a "substantial contribution", he added, as they rarely spoke in the House. He was speaking during the second stage reading of the Local Government Bill 2000 which was passed by 65 votes to 49.

Mr Michael Ring (Fine Gael, Mayo), said he wished to congratulate "the Taoiseach, Deputy Healy-Rae, the Tanaiste, Deputy Fox, the Minister for Social Welfare, Deputy Gildea and the Minister for the Environment, Deputy Blaney".

It was time to "separate theory from reality", the Minister for Defence, Mr Smith, told the House. He was speaking on behalf of Mr Dempsey, who was absent through illness. The controversial Local Government Bill 2000 had been criticised because it was not thought radical enough, he said.

At a practical level, however, he had not sensed any appetite for radical change. Many of the Bill's provisions were geared towards enhancing the position of elected members as policy makers, for example those dealing with corporate policy groups (CPGs).

These, headed by and working in conjunction with a directly elected cathaoirleach, would provide "a powerful impetus for change" in the internal dynamics of local government.

The CPG would have a key role in the preparation of the corporate plan for the life of the council and the annual budget: "The Bill provides for a range of powers for the CPG and the elected council to develop, make and steer policy and oversee the executive." An executive role was not proposed for the CPG or cathaoirleach at this stage, Mr Smith added.

Mr Sean Fleming (Fianna Fail, Laois-Offaly) was concerned about "disenfranchised voters" because of anomalies involving local authority boundaries. In such cases the constitutional right of people to vote for the local authority which administered the area in which they resided had been taken from them. "That is due to an anomaly where the electoral boundaries were changed but the administrative boundaries were not."

He called for provision to be made in the Bill for electoral boundaries to correspond with the functional boundaries of local authorities.

He was also concerned about the proliferation of committees at local authority level. When he was elected to Laois County Council for the first time in 1999, he found "we were electing people on to 32 different committees". It was unnecessary to have committees for most of these areas - drainage and burial boards etc. which were covered by the normal activities of local authorities.

The Celtic Tiger had increased the strain on local authority financing, Mr Michael D'Arcy (FG, Wexford) told the House. The growth in the economy over the last 10 to 15 years indicated the loss of potential revenue from traditional sources such as domestic, agricultural and water rates.

"Since the abolition of charges local authorities are depending on central Government to supplement their incomes."