I move the Second Reading of this Bill. Normally, between the 23rd June and 1st July the triennial elections would take place in respect of the county councils, urban district councils and town commissioners. It will be recalled that in his Budget speech on 6th May the Minister for Finance foreshadowed that the Government would introduce proposals for the remodelling of local government, and stated that at a very early date proposals would be put before the Dáil for, in particular, the remodelling of the county council machinery. In the circumstances it was thought that no advantage would be gained by having an election to these bodies now. An election will take place for the county borough councils of Waterford and of Limerick, and one-third of the members of the council in Cork will be elected.
There will be no county borough election in Dublin, but with the exception of these elections it is proposed to postpone county council elections and elections to urban district councils and town commissioners. The important proposals that have been promised will be introduced and take effect before the term of office of the new council elected in June next would be completed, and in the circumstances it was thought quite unnecessary to spend approximately £30,000 on these local elections on the one hand, and on the other to put public representatives administering the work of local bodies at present to the inconvenience of contesting an election for a period that would not be the normal period of the life of the council. The postponement of the elections then saves the local bodies approximately £30,000. It also puts us in the position that while we will be discussing very important proposals dealing with local government. we will have in office councils who will have had continuing experience of the last three years as well as whatever period will elapse before the proposals are put before us. It is thought that that will be an advantage too. The proposals are then that the elections will be postponed to a date not later than July, 1934. That is the end of the normal period. The proposals that are before the House contain provisions whereby committees, of which the principal one would be the board of health, that are usually elected after the triennial election and are entitled to last for the life of the councils that elect them, will continue to run for the period of life of the present councils, so that there will be a continuity in respect of the work of the committees.
The Bill makes certain proposals in regard to casual vacancies and resignations. As far as urban district councils are concerned, since the change of local government in 1922 elections are held on the same date as the county council elections and part of the cost of the elections only is borne by the urban district councils. It is considered that it would be unwarranted to carry out elections in the urban districts, imposing more expenses on these districts than would normally be the case and more than they had made provision for. Apart altogether from that, there are some urban district councils and a number of county councils that will be changed in any remodelling of the local government system and in many ways the work of the county council reacts on the urban districts, so that it is as well to have continued the personnel of the urban district councils as well as of the county councils while we are discussing our proposals. Provision is made also in respect of those areas where we have commissioners acting for the councils at the present moment. It will, if the circumstances suggest it, enable the Minister to postpone further the elections that would normally take place in these areas. Normally it might be desired to postpone these elections until such time as we are holding the general local government elections. So powers are taken to extend the present period in respect of which a commissioner can do the work. There is nothing that will prevent a council being restored in any of these places if the circumstances should appear to warrant it.
At the annual or quarterly meeting of the Council, as the case may be, that takes place between the 23rd June and the 1st July, a chairman is elected. Deputies will realise that the Eucharistic Congress will take place in June of next year. Urban councils and, in an ex-officio manner, the chairmen of urban district councils may possibly, and probably will, take rather a prominent part in the functions in connection with the Eucharistic Congress. It is obviously undesirable that the persons acting as chairmen of such local bodies should be changed during the period of the Eucharistic Congress. Many of them may be organising or doing other work in connection with the Congress in June, 1932. Everyone will realise that it is desirable that the person occupying the position and doing the work leading up to the Eucharistic Congress should continue to do it in whatever representative capacity he may occupy during the period of the Congress. It is therefore proposed that the election of chairman to the local body that would take place in June, 1932, will be postponed for six or seven weeks.