I move that the Bill be now read a Second Time.
Private Business. - Local Government Provisional Order Confirmation Bill, 1957—Second and Subsequent Stages.
An Leas-Chathaoirleach
The purpose of this Bill is to confirm the Provisional Order set out in the Schedule, i.e., the Wicklow County (Extension of Boundary) Provisional Order, 1957, which was made by my predecessor on 13th February last and which proposes the inclusion in County Wicklow of 78 acres of land at present in County Dublin.
The Bray Urban District Council intend to make an application to the Wicklow County Council to include this area in the Bray urban district. The estimated population of the transferred area is about 600 and the valuation about £1,850. There are at present 130 houses belonging to the Bray Urban District Council and 12 private holdings in the area.
Under the existing law, i.e. Section 10 of the Local Authorities (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1936, an urban district council which is not a borough may at any time apply to the council of the county in which it is situate for an order under the section altering the boundary of the urban district in the manner specified in the application.
To enable the urban council to initiate their application to the Wicklow County Council, it is necessary first to bring the land in question into Wicklow County. The step of transferring the land from the Wicklow County Health District to the Bray Urban District Council under Section 10 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1936, will be a separate matter and will involve the usual procedure of discussion between the county council and the urban district council, advertisement, right of aggrieved parties to make their objections to me, and so on.
The whole question of the present Provisional Order was fully discussed at a public inquiry. Dublin County Council was represented at that inquiry and raised no objection other than matters relating to the ownership of water pipes and consequential financial adjustments. The Provisional Order does not affect local authority property rights in the area and financial adjustments are outside the scope of the Order. Those adjustments will be made subsequently under the provisions of the Local Government (Application of Enactments) Order, 1898, either by agreement or by arbitration.
The Provisional Order contains the usual provisions in relation to the preparation of maps, the continuance in effect in the added area of resolutions, orders and notices of the Dublin County Council which are not inconsistent with the terms of the Provisional Order, arrangements regarding jurors, areas of jurisdiction of coroners, valuation lists, registration of electors and saving from disqualification of members of the Dublin County Council who, by reason of the transfer of the area, may cease to be local government electors for that county.
I take it this Bill is merely a routine measure to which nobody can take exception, but there are some consequential facts arising from it about which I should like to have my mind clear. The Minister has told us it will affect some 600 people who will be transformed overnight, I take it, from Dublin men into Wicklow men. Apart from the public inquiry, I should like to know whether they have been consulted? Has there been, as happens in the case of changing the name of a street, a plebiscite, or any direct consultation with the 600 people? Am I correct in assuming that, if under the Health Act, one of these people applies to the local health authority to be hospitalised, where as now he or she would have the right to be hospitalised in a Dublin hospital, henceforth he or she will have to go to a County Wicklow hospital, either in Wicklow town or Arklow? That would seem to me to be a practical change which might involve a certain amount of hardship in certain circumstances. In order to be satisfied on that point and satisfied that these people have been consulted in the full sense of the expression, I should like to put those questions to the Minister.
The 600 people it is proposed to transfer are, of course, County Wicklow people. They were transferred from Bray into this area of 78 acres that had been acquired for building purposes by Bray Urban District Council. These houses were provided, I think, back in 1949-1950 and it was the intention of the Bray Urban District Council at the time to seek what is being sought now, but it was not possible to make any move in that direction because of the existing state of the law in relation to the public assistance districts. Under the Local Government (Amendment) Act of 1955, permission was given to change these public assistance areas and after the passage of that Act it was possible to put in motion the machinery necessary to make the transfer of these 78 acres to Wicklow County Council, because that is the first step in the course of the transfer to the Bray Urban District Council area.
I do not think the people are being affected adversely in any way. As a matter of fact, their position in a certain way will be improved. Those of them who may be in receipt of unemployment assistance will benefit as a result of being taken out of a rural area and put into an urban area. It is not a very substantial matter, but whatever it is, the advantages are on their side.
As to the question of hospitalisation, there were only 12 original holders in the area who could be said to be Dublin people—I do not know if the position would be worsened from a medical, surgical or other point of view because of their being transferred into County Wicklow. I would hardly think it would make much difference. It is not a point about which I am briefed, but, applying my own reason, I do not believe there will be any trouble. I do not think there was any hostility to the making of the Order. Dublin County Council were represented at the inquiry and they were only concerned with a few trivial matters. That was so because of the fact that originally it was known that it was intended to have the area transferred and indeed it would have been done long ago if it were not for the existing state of the law.
Question put and agreed to.
Agreed to take the remaining stages to-day.
Bill passed through Committee; reported without amendment, received for final consideration and passed.