asked the Minister for Local Government whether he has given consideration to the necessity for a remodelling of the system of keeping the accounts and records of the Local Boards, and whether, in view of the fact that the present system is stated to be antiquated, he will introduce a system of account keeping which will enable returns to be published which will have the effect of showing as a comparative statement the several items of expenditure on the several different services, and the several amounts of rates collected from the different classes of taxpayers, Unions, etc., from year to year, so that the increases or decreases may be clearly shown to the ratepayers.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - REMODELLING OF SYSTEM OF KEEPING LOCAL ACCOUNTS AND RECORDS.
I am in accord with the Deputy as to the necessity for publicity of full explanatory information of the nature mentioned in the question. Owing to the extensive destruction of records which has taken place in recent years difficulties exist in some cases in compiling reliable comparative figures. For due consideration of estimates local authorities should have available all this essential information and steps are being taken to ensure that it may be accessible to ratepayers.