asked the Minister for the Public Service the plans, if any, the Government have for the establishment of a western development board.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Western Development.
31.
Responsibility for western development is at present assigned to a number of Departments and agencies including the county development teams, co-ordinated by the Central Development Committee under the Department of Finance. While no definite plans have yet been formulated the question of co-ordinating all aspects of western development is being considered in the broader context of the distribution of functions of Government at sub-national levels.
Will the Minister state what stage the plans have reached and when we may expect an announcement as to when the board will be set up?
The Deputy will appreciate there are many agencies and authorities involved, not merely at governmental level but also at local authority level and at levels in between. I should not like to make any estimate at this stage as to when agreement might be reached on the most appropriate form for the future. I am very anxious to see an acceleration of consideration of this problem because it is likely that the arrangements we have in 1975, which are really no more than a continuance of what we had in 1925, are not suitable to the requirements of the latter half of the 20th century.
Is the Minister aware that a recent statement he made gave the impression that the establishment of such a board was imminent? Is he telling us there are no positive plans to have such a board established?
No. I think the Deputy is referring to a statement I made recently in Westport, in which I indicated my view that there was a need to reassess the appropriateness of existing institutional arrangements. However, he will also appreciate I cannot dictate the readiness of other people to respond to suggestions I offered that now is the time to make changes. While the Government may well be of the view that certain changes should take place, to enforce those views against the opposition of others would not be the best way to obtain the co-operation that would ensure the best advantage for the western areas.
The Minister referred to the existence of a central committee that was established approximately ten years ago for the purpose of co-ordinating the different agencies that might have a role in western development. Is that committee still functioning?
Yes, the Central Development Committee is still functioning and I must say it is functioning with comparative success. But even accepting that that Committee is functioning and that it does no more than relate the functions and activities of numerous bodies, I think the time has come for a further assessment and reorganisation, but one wishes to have the co-operation of all the entities involved rather than to enforce a decision upon existing agencies.
Is the Minister afraid of setting up this board because he might be caught out filching the pennies from the Regional Fund which this board, if set up, would find very useful?
I would have expected more of Deputy Cunningham than to try to be mischievous. He knows well that what I am endeavouring to do here is to produce a new institutional arrangement which is trimmed to the needs of 1975 and onwards, the last quarter of the twentieth century, instead of the present arrangements which were fundamentally set up in the first quarter of the twentieth century. It is now half a century later but yet the fundamental organisation of government in Ireland both at national and sub-national level is trimmed to the first quarter of this century.
Would the Minister agree that the Western Regional Development Fund has achieved very considerable success in the area in which it has operated and has he any plans for its expansion or if some new board is set up will that particular fund be continued?
The Deputy is no doubt aware that the all-party Committee of Public Accounts made certain suggestions in relation to the funds under the control of the Central Development Committee and we must bear in mind their recommendations.
This is a fund under the Minister's own control.
Yes, but the Committee of Public Accounts have already expressed certain reservations in relation to some allocation from the Central Development Fund and what we need to do now is to look at the operation of that fund, the committee which supervises it, the local authority responsibilities, all the independent agencies, and produce a new system which will ensure that the most benefit goes to the western areas with the least amount of bureaucratic contradiction and overlapping.