Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 18 Feb 1953

Vol. 136 No. 8

Committee on Finance. - Local Government Bill, 1952—Final Stages.

Minister for Local Government (Mr. Smith)

I move amendment No. 1:—

In page 1, Section 2, to add at the end of the section a new sub-section as follows:—

(2) Not less than one month before making any such declaration as is mentioned in the foregoing sub-section the road authority shall publish in at least two newspapers circulating in their functional area notice of their intention to consider the making of such declaration and such notice shall contain such particulars as may be prescribed.

Under Section 25 of the Local Government Act, 1925, the parent section to which this Bill applies, public notice in two local newspapers must be given of a local authority's intention to declare a road a public road. This is a desirable provision and it is proposed in this amendment to ensure that public notice will also be given of a local authority's intention to declare a road a public road under the powers conferred by the Bill. I brought the matter to the attention of the Special Committee and they agreed with the principle of the amendment.

Mr. McQuillan

There should be no objection to the acceptance of this amendment.

Amendment agreed to.

Mr. Smith

I move amendment No. 2:—

In page 1, Section 2, to add at the end of the section a new sub-section as follows:—

(2) The making of a declarationunder sub-section (1) of this section or under sub-section (1) of Section 25 of the Local Government Act, 1925, (No. 5 of 1925) shall be a reserved function within the meaning of the County Management Acts, 1940 and 1942.

Under the Bill, as it stands, it would be for the manager to decide whether to take over a road as a public road. I think the general intention was, however, that this should be a reserved function to be exercised by the elective council. The Special Committee agreed that it would be a good idea to introduce this amendment on the Report Stage.

In addition to making the power of declaring a road a public road under Section 2 a reserved function, the amendment seeks to make the parent power under Section 25 of the Local Government Act, 1925, a reserved function also, as it would be ridiculous to have one power a managerial function and the other a reserved function.

Mr. McQuillan

I think this is a desirable amendment. When the Bill was introduced, I intended that the decision to declare these roads public roads should be left to councils and not to county managers. The Minister has now enshrined that in the Bill. For many years past much criticism was levelled at local bodies on the ground that most of their powers have been stripped and handed over to county managers. One very desirable feature of this Bill is that power is now given to local authorities to decide for themselves what roads they in their wisdom consider to be of public importance. This is of benefit also in that the criticism levelled at councils is that they are more or less inclined to leave many of their duties in the hands of the county managers. Under this Bill, considerable power will be given to local authorities regarding the repair of certain types of roads. If that power were left to the county manager, it was quite possible that various councils would be utilising the Managerial Act as an excuse for not carrying out very necessary repair work. Now that the power lies in the hands of the local authorities themselves,they will, in my opinion, use those powers with a sense of restraint and of responsibility and therefore I welcome the amendment.

Amendment agreed to.

Bill reported with amendments.

Question: "That the Bill as amended be received for final consideration"— put and agreed to.

Question: "That the Bill do now pass"—put and agreed to.