When I reported progress last night I was dealing with the control of pollution.
Another area where an initiative has been taken relates to what is described as the "polluter pays" principle. By this is meant that the person or interest which is responsible for activity causing pollution must accept liability for the cost of undoing the damage, or the cost of measures, if necessary to prevent damage. I think it will be agreed that the "polluter pays" principle is basically sound, though its application has to be tailored to some extent to national circumstances and take account of other general objectives, for example, in relation to regional policy.
As a first step in promoting the "polluter pays" concept throughout the Community, a draft recommendation has been prepared by the Commission and is at present under examination. The proposal has implication for a number of Departments other than mine and is being examined in that broad context.
It is true of environmental proposals generally that they often affect a number of Departments and have implications for development as well as conservation programmes. There is need therefore for effective liaison between Departments in dealing with these matters. This kind of liaison was always there but I have been anxious to make it more effective and the Government have now approved of a more formalised liaison arrangement in relation to environmental matters. I think this will make for better co-ordination and a more effective handling of environmental business.
In my Estimates speech last year I indicated that the fire service was under review by a working party representative of the Departments mainly concerned, of the city and county managers, of the professional bodies and trade unions. I understand that the work on the review is now well advanced and that it is hoped to finalise the review within the next few months. The working party submitted an interim report on fire prevention. The recommendations in the interim report were conveyed to the local authorities by my Department with a request that arrangements be made to act on them as quickly as possible. An important recommendation was that local publicity campaigns should be put on by the local authorities, involving in particular seminars for management in places of public resort, and also for other such groups.
Despite their staff problems, a number of local authorities have responded to this recommendation and have put on very successful seminars aimed at industrial and hotel management. My Department, through the Fire Protection Association of Ireland, assisted with the provision of specialist fire prevention films, posters and leaflets. The fire insurance companies also made valuable contributions to the success of the seminars through the provision of guest speakers. I have no doubt that the same assistance will be fully available to assist other local authorities mount such seminars, and I am urging them to do so. These local seminars can be very valuable in getting across to those in key positions the need and duty to provide adequate fire safety protection for the members of the public and the staff in their care.
Last year I also referred to the recommendations which my Department made to local authorities in the matter of strengthening their capacity to engage in fire prevention work by appointing, within the existing structure of the service, additional staff to do fire prevention work, and by availing of the special course in fire prevention which was put on at the Regional Technical College, in Galway. Twenty fire service personnel, mainly at Second Officer level, undertook the 20-week course, the first of its kind in this country. The course ended in March last. With proper local guidance, these men can enable their local authorities to make a major impact on local fire prevention problems, and I have urged the local authorities to see to it that the best use is made of these men. These staffing and training arrangements in fire prevention promoted by my Department represent an ad hoc measure to enable local authorities to engage more extensively in fire prevention work in as short a time as possible. The need for additional measures in regard to fire prevention and other aspects of the fire service will be considered in due course in the light of the working party's findings and recommendations.
While the importance of fire prevention is nowadays receiving greater emphasis than hitherto, the traditional role of the service in fire fighting and rescue work goes on. Apart from fire situations, firemen are expected to deal with a variety of emergencies. I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to commend the excellent work being done, day and night, often in hazardous circumstances, by the men of the whole-time and retained brigades. I would like in particular to pay tribute to the outstanding work of the fire service, including the fire brigade ambulance service, in helping to deal with the terrible consequences of the recent car bombs. In such circumstances we can readily appreciate the value to the community of a service which we are inclined, perhaps, to take too much for granted under ordinary circumstances.
The programme for the rehabilitation of itinerants was recently reviewed by the Government. While some 800 families have been accommodated on camping sites or in houses and their children are attending school regularly, the fact remains that many other families wishing to settle have not been provided with the opportunity of doing so. While there is broad public acceptance of the need for and the possibility of improving the lot of itinerants, all too often this general acceptance breaks down and many local authority proposals to provide accommodation for itinerant families in an area have had to be abandoned due to opposition from the settled community. It is obvious that further worthwhile progress cannot be made unless this aspect of the problem is tackled. I believe that voluntary effort has a vital part to play in supporting the local authority efforts and in overcoming local obstacles. I am satisfied that an important contribution in this regard is being made by voluntary groups in many areas and in particular by their co-ordinating body, the National Council for Travelling People.
Mr. Victor Bewley, Vice-Chairman of the National Council, who has been deeply involved in itinerant settlement for a number of years was an obvious choice when I decided to make an appointment of adviser to me on the itinerant settlement programme. He will be engaged by the National Council to promote and co-ordinate the programme with particular reference to certain aspects, for example to liaise with councillors, managers and local committees in promoting schemes and in overcoming local opposition. I have asked all local authorities to afford Mr. Bewley their full support and co-operation and to assist him in every way possible in carrying out his duties. The co-operation of the public is an essential element in the success of his work. I would therefore appeal to the public in the interests both of the settled community and of the itinerant families to look at the problem in human terms, in terms of the difficulty of living on the roadside while keeping reasonable standards of hygiene and maintaining social responsibilities but, more especially, in terms of the young children who are rejected by society wherever a project to accommodate them and give them an opportunity of being educated is opposed.
During the year 1973-74, An Foras Forbartha continued their valuable research in the fields of planning, construction, roads and water resources. Generally the work of An Foras is published in reports and some specific activities of An Foras are dealt with elsewhere in my speech. However, to give some overall picture of the activities of An Foras during the year, I shall mention a few of the more important things they did.
These activities included chemical and biological sampling of rivers and lakes; construction management training; the national housing condition survey; the compilation of the national building product file; and work on the national heritage inventory. Research was also continued on aspects of the environment including an ecological management project, while the Irish biological centre operated by An Foras continued to record the distribution of Irish fauna. The wide range of interest of An Foras research can be seen from the varied activities mentioned. Other activities were the operation of an effluent standard assessment system. This was established to monitor grant-aided industry at the request of the Industrial Development Authority and in conjunction with the Institute of Industrial Research and Standards. Also in operation is the vehicle testing programme under which 1,800 cars were tested for defects and the results analysed and submitted to me. An Foras are now assembling facilities to test heavy goods vehicles.
Among the more important reports published by An Foras were two reports on the question of office location which drew attention to the rapid expansion of office employment in Ireland and showed the extent to which concentration in Dublin is a major obstacle to regional growth. The amount of grant-in-aid being provided under subhead I to An Foras this year is £296,000. This is exclusive of the grant it receives from the Road Fund as the national centre for road research.
It is a policy aim of the Government that local government be truly democratic and relevant to the needs of the people. This has, of course, implications also in relation to the organisational and financial framework of local government both centrally and locally and in relation to the internal efficiency of the organisations.
The sum of £1,632,000 in subhead A is the amount necessary to cover in respect of the period up to the 31st December next, the salaries of the staff needed to give effect to the Government's policies in such priority areas as housing, roads, environmental services, planning and EEC involvement. A detailed study of the work and organisation of the Department is now at a fairly-advanced stage, and the report of the Task Force which is making a study will include recomdations on the actual steps necessary to develop or instal the four staff units of planning, finance, organisation and personnel—as recommended by the Public Services Review Group—and on any other changes which are considered desirable in the Department's organisation and working arrangements.
I have already mentioned that the total cost of local government will be about £300 million this years. With annual expenditure so large, it is essential that the best possible use be made of modern management techniques and aids. A number of local authorities are now using computers in their day-to-day operations. A small number have, in fact, installed their own computers and others are obtaining computer services from special bureaux. The potential for extension of computer use in local government is very great and I am satisfied that planned action must be taken to develop this potential to the full. To avoid the dissipation of scarce resources of manpower and finance, the overall approach to this problem must be a co-ordinated one. Much more is at stake in this than the mere speeding up of office routines; the computer can in time become a powerful tool in helping to raise the whole level of effectiveness in local government. Developments in this respect will not take place overnight but we must plan for them now.
Last year, a new Computer Services Section was established in my Department. This Section will work in full co-operation with local authorities and will have the guidance of a management committee comprised mainly of local authorities and of the Department. A number of specialist staff have been recruited and are now working on specific computer projects in consultation with local authorities.
The principle of public accountability is safeguarded by the audit service of the Department which audits the accounts of all local authorities and various other local bodies, including the health boards. This service is estimated to cost approximately £98,000 in nine months to the 31st December, 1974 including salaries and travelling expenses. Fee charges to the bodies audited are expected to bring in £40,000 against this expenditure.
The cost of goods purchased over the past year by local authorities including the health boards is estimated at about £7 million. Notwithstanding scarcities of some commodities, official contractors have in the main been able to maintain supplies throughout the year and to provide a satisfactory service. Steps are currently being taken to improve the terms on which goods may be supplied in the future.
The Exchequer and Local Financial Year Act, 1974 provides for the change-over of all local accounts to a calendar year basis commencing on 1st January, 1975. This involved, among other things, a number of consequential adaptations of statutes and statutory instruments governing the services provided by this Department, and, more particularly the striking of local rates for the nine months April to December, 1974. An informative leaflet has been issued to all ratepayers explaining the changeover.
During the course of my speech on last year's Estimate, I said that the most significant development in the sphere of local authority finance was the Government's decision to remove from local to central taxation that part of the cost of health services and local authority housing provided for letting which heretofore had fallen on the rates. Deputies will recall that, in 1973-74 the rates in the £ required to be struck for these services were only 75 per cent of the corresponding rates in 1972-73.
On the 18th February last, I notified all local authorities of the Government's decision on the completion of the phasing out of the relevant health and housing changes. The decision taken was that, for the nine-month "financial year" April to December, 1974, the rates in the £ required to be struck for these services were to be 37 per cent of what they were in 1972-73; in 1975, the rates in the £ will be 25 per cent of what they were in 1972-73, and in 1976, 12 per cent of the 1972-73 levels. From 1st January, 1977 onwards, no contribution from the rates will be required for these two services.
As an indication of the extent of the benefit accruing to ratepayers from this decision, I should point out that, in 1972-73, the total contribution from rates towards the cost of health services and local authority housing provided for letting was £43.2 million, representing approximately 44 per cent of the total rate levy. In that year, the rate in the £ for health services alone ranged from £1.59 in the £ in the case of Meath County Council to £3.19 in the £ in the case of Mayo County Council— the average being £2.48 in the £ for the country as a whole. In the period from April to December 1974, the total contribution required from rates for the two services will be reduced from the £43.2 million I have mentioned to an estimated £16.2 million. In 1975, it will be cut further to £10.8 million and in 1976 to £5.4 million. If the Government had not made the decisions relating to the rates contributions for these services, ratepayers would be paying £1.70 in the £ extra, an average, in April-December, 1974.
Apart from removing the abovementioned burdens from ratepayers, the Government are also considering the general concept of relating local taxation to the ability of persons to pay. Some work in this has already been carried out in my Department, and I have asked the Economic and Social Research Institute to supplement this work by undertaking a study of various aspects of the problem.
While on the subject of ability to pay, I would like to make a reference to the rates waiver schemes which are operated by some local authorities. Under these schemes, local authorities can waive all or part of the rates in the case of persons who may be unable to pay them. Fifty-four local authorities operated these schemes in 1972-73 when over 21,400 persons were afforded relief from the rates. Final figures for 1973-74 are not available but the indications are that an even greater number of persons were granted relief during that year. I would like to appeal once again to those local authorities which do not at present operate rates waiver schemes to consider the desirability of doing so in the future. I would also like to appeal to those local authorities which do operate schemes to adopt a compassionate and flexible approach in the granting of relief under the terms of their schemes.
Deputies will recall that the members of Dublin City and Bray Urban Councils had been removed from office by the previous Government. I restored local democracy in these areas and followed this up with arrangements for local elections which were held this year for the first time since 1967.
This year's elections differed in several important respects from previous local elections. For the first time, 18-year-olds had the right to vote at local elections. Many of the former restrictions on eligibility for membership of local authorities were removed. For the first time nomination was open to 18-year-olds, and to a wide range of categories of persons previously excluded. Greater safeguards for the secrecy of the ballot were introduced and the property vote at local elections was abolished. Local electoral areas were revised to bring about greater equality of representation on local councils.
Postal voting facilities were extended, for the first time, to voters generally. These arrangements enabled a voter to apply to vote by post at local elections if he was unable, or was likely to be unable, to vote in person at his appointed polling station by reason of the circumstances of his employment, absence from the address where he is registered, illness or physical disability, or employment by the returning officer in connection with the election. The question of whether similar facilities should be provided at Dáil and Presidential elections and referenda is now being considered in the light of experience at the local elections. An up-to-date statutory procedure whereby a local election can be questioned by petition to the Circuit Court has been provided in replacement of provsions found to be unconstitutional 14 years ago.
I regard all these measures as valuable inputs of the democratic process into the local government system and as a further step in this process of improvement I issued a discussion document to local authorities on the subject of local government re-organisation. I might say that since taking office I have made it clear that I did not accept the proposals set out in the previous Government's White Paper on local government re-organisation—particularly the proposals to abolish local authorities and that I would be putting forward my own proposals in this regard. The main purpose of the document was to provoke a debate on the matter and to say firmly that I do not propose to abolish elected local authorities. I put forward, for the purposes of discussion, certain proposals which I felt would help the many small local authorities to alleviate some of the problems which are created by their limited resources. I am at present considering the views put forward by local authorities with the possibility of further consulting them about specific aspects of the proposals before arriving at final conclusions in the matter.
