This is a Bill which the Government have brought forward at the request of the Limerick Corporation, who wished to have in Limerick the system of city government, which is already in operation in Dublin, Cork and Dún Laoghaire. Whilst the Bill was going through the Dáil it was considered by the corporation and approved. The system of government for which the Bill provides is that which associates a city manager with an elected council. The functions reserved to the council are prescribed in the Bill and all other functions of the corporation are to be exercised by the city manager.
The new council will consist of 15 members of whom four will be aldermen. They will be elected not by wards but by the electors of the whole city which forms one electoral area. I may say the existing council is composed of 40 members representing eight wards. The council will elect a mayor whose duties and privileges will be the same as at present. The council will have power to make the rate, borrow money, make by-laws, bring permissive Acts into force by resolution, promote legislation, appoint representatives on public bodies, and subject to the usual provisions, appoint, suspend or remove the manager. There is a provision by which the powers of the council can if necessary be extended by an order of the Minister.
The Local Appointments Commissioners will be asked to recommend a suitable person as city manager. The manager will act as town clerk, that office not having been filled when a vacancy occurred. A temporary manager can be appointed by the Minister to hold office until a permanent appointment is made. The manager will have the same duty as in Dublin of furnishing information to the mayor, attending meetings, advising the council, planning works which the council wish to have executed and controlling and supervising the staff. He will act by signed orders, of which a record will be kept.
All the existing separate funds will be merged in a new consolidated fund which is called the municipal fund. A new consolidated rate will take the place of the existing Improvement Rate, Borough Rate, Water Rate, General Purposes Rates and Poor Rate. The Contract Water Rate will remain. In order to preserve the existing partial exemption of land as nearly as possible we propose a flat municipal rate on three-fifths of the valuation of arable land or meadow within the city. Vacant premises will be rated as in Dublin—that is, the rates will be assessed on the owner but there will be power to make a refund of half if the house cannot be let to a suitable tenant or is unoccupied for repairs or alterations.
Poor relief has been one of the principal factors which has increased local taxation in Limerick. When the Poor Law Unions were abolished the parts of Limerick Union that were in the counties of Limerick and Clare were separated from the city, which was left with a workhouse and staff much larger than it needed and the area of charge was restricted to the city. Limerick County, is not yet disposed towards anything in the nature of a joint scheme, and so it happens Limerick remains the only county borough which is not united with part of the adjoining county for poor relief purposes.
The Poor Law authority in Limerick is called the board of health, which is composed wholly of members of the council. It is proposed to dissolve this body altogether and have its duties carried out by the City Manager. The difficulties of administering poor relief as well as the expenditure under this head will be diminished owing to the operation of the Unemployment Assistance Act. The Gas Committee under the Limerick Corporation Act, 1878, and the Tuberculosis Committee will also be abolished. In Limerick the gas undertaking is the property of the corporation. At an inquiry held in 1932 it was found that the management and financial position of the undertaking were far from satisfactory. The powers of the committee will be exercised by the manager. The Bill does not extend the boundaries of the city, but it provides machinery by which an application by the corporation for extension can be examined and a provisional order obtained. Before such extension can take place a local inquiry will have to be held and a provisional order made and confirmed by an Act.
The position of the officers and servants of the corporation will remain unchanged, except that they will be under the control and supervision of the manager. The superannuation of employees who are not classed as officers is also dealt with by provisions designed to meet the cases of old employees who are past their labour and who cannot be pensioned under the law as it stands. Employees, if they have 20 years' service, are given the benefit of the provisions of Section 53 of the Local Government Act of 1925 and this power can be exercised within a period of two years or longer if the Minister, on the application of the corporation, extends the period. For the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1925, as applied, employees of the gas undertaking will be allowed to reckon their period of employment as employment by the corporation.
The Bill follows fairly closely the precedents already established, especially the Dublin Act of 1930. It is, as I have said, promoted at the wish of the corporation and is the solution which they desire of their problem of administration.