asked the Minister for the Environment if the Government are undertaking a review of the Local Government (Financial Provisions) Act, 1983, in accordance with the undertaking given to the Dáil when the Bill was being debated in June 1983; the form the review will take; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Local Government (Financial Provisions) Act, 1983.
13.
The operation of the relevant aspects of the legislation has been kept under review by my Department in the course of their normal day to day contacts with local authorities. I have at present no proposals for changes in the legislation but the matter will continue to be kept under review.
The Minister of State at the Department of the Environment in June 1983 indicated that the principle of local charges would be reconsidered and gave us to understand that it would be done within two years. In the present review is the Minister reconsidering the principle of local charges or simply their application?
I would refer the Deputy to my speech on the Estimate as reported in the Official Report, volume 355, column 553, in which I mentioned that the Government would continue to pursue the question of a more balanced system of local financing and would take note of any views expressed on the subject by the Commission on Taxation or the NESC. I assure the Deputy that I am considering this in the current review of the reform of local government.
Does the Minister recall that during the debate on this Bill in the House, Deputies from all sides voiced their strong objections to the power being given to county managers to decide on the level of service charges and that it was following the protests from Deputies that the Minister said he would review the operation of the Act after a period? I took it that that was what this question was seeking to elicit from the Minister, whether he was carrying out that review or whether he was going to take any action in regard to the matter about which so many complaints were made by all Deputies during the course of that debate.
As I indicated to Deputies today and before, there is a wide ranging review of the financing of local authorities in conjunction with the reform of local government. That review will take place and we will debate the consequences of it in the House shortly.