It is the opposite of what the Minister's colleague argued. He also suggested people like myself had a fear of devolving power to local authorities. As the Deputy is well aware, I am involved on a local authority and I have no fear of devolving power to it. I am making the case as clearly as I can; perhaps I am not as clear as I should be, or perhaps some people are not listening. I am not here as a local authority member. I am representing these people at this committee on this Stage of this Bill, which, as I said at the preliminary meeting, will affect them drastically.
I am open to correction on many of these matters because Bills are by their nature difficult to follow. The Minister referred to devolving power to local authorities. My understanding of the proposals in this Bill is that the Minister may by regulations amend by addition, deletion or alteration, under section 2 (3), whereas under section 4 a local authority may add to the classes of items. That does not appear to be a total devolution of power to the local authority, but perhaps the Minister will respond and explain when we come to that point. It does not seem to give the local authority the same degree of power as it gives the Minister, since he may add, delete or alter the various classes.
I mentioned some of the items I want excluded, but the proposed new subparagraph (g) of my amendment No. 5 provides that the Bill should exclude any person whom the local authority knows to be a traditional street trader until such time as that person is offered a reasonable location from which to trade. Technically, that may not be the best place to put in such an amendment, but presumably if it appears at that point it has been accepted to go in there.
There is a problem in the centre of Dublin in that people, mainly women, have for years, as they see it, been selling on the commercial streets around O'Connell Street. When the 1980 Act was introduced they were not given pitches from which to trade and consequently they are now what we call unregistered and what the corporation and the police can illegal. They are illegal by default, because they have not been given places from which to trade.
When the local authority tried to designate spots for these people, some big businesses unfortunately campaigned against them. They lobbied local authority members and used their power against people who are small in number, poor in circumstances and do not have the same influence. The result is that these people are not represented and that is largely the reason Deputy Costello, Councillor Christy Burke and I ended up in prison. I was not in the Dáil for the 1980 legislation but I am here for this Bill and I want that problem addressed in whatever way possible.
I mentioned the public representatives who went to prison; but, unfortunately, week in week out I call on the Governor of Mountjoy and the Office of the Minister for Justice to get women such as these released. People talk about overcrowding in Mountjoy and the huge crime problem in Dublin, while the resources and time of a large proportion of the gardaí in the centre of Dublin is spent constantly hounding women, bringing them to police stations, charging them, bringing them to court and taking them to Mountjoy. The job of the Governor of Mountjoy is made all the more insufferable as a result.
This is a total waste of resources and is completely wrong and we have an opportunity to address these issues in this Bill. While I do not wish to be in any way antagonistic to the Minister, I took exception to his earlier statement that this was a simple matter, because it is not for these people or for myself and the others who represent them. We can either ignore this, as many have done in the past and will choose to do now, but the struggle will continue and the opportunity——