I thank the Chair for allowing me to raise this matter on the Adjournment.
Cork Corporation have failed to adopt an Estimate and now face abolition. The editorial in The Irish Times today points out that the problem does not end there and that Limerick and Waterford are likely to follow suit. I wish to inform the Minister that Dún Laoghaire Borough Council are facing the same prospect. We began our statutory estimates meeting on Tuesday last on a draft estimate which provides for the retention of water charges — and Dún Laoghaire is the only part of the greater Dublin area which has such charges; the introduction of a sewage charge of £30 per household, and an increase in the commercial rate which is 3 times the rate of inflation. All the members of the council indicated that they would vote against this estimate.
This is consistent with a motion which the borough council passed last September, which declared an intention to abolish water charges in the borough and which sought a meeting with the Minister for the Environment, well in advance of estimates time, to discuss the financial situation of the corporation. The Minister's predecessor did not accede to that request and I am now asking the present Minister to agree to meet this week, or early next week, with a deputation from the borough council to discuss our financial problems, so that we can avoid a doomsday situation.
Dún Laoghaire's basic problem is the same as that of other local authorities. The rate support grant which they have received from the Department of the Environment is too low. It has failed to match the promise made when the domestic rates were abolished and taxes increased that local authorities would get from central Government the same moneys which they would have collected in rates.
Dún Laoghaire Corporation are now getting from the Department of the Environment only £1 out of every £4 to which they are entitled. This is leaving an annual shortfall of over £10 million. But, Dún Laoghaire has two other problems, first, the level of rates in Dún Laoghaire in 1977, the base year, was far below the rest of Dublin and the rate support grants were originally based on this suppressed rate. The second problem is the rate base. Only 27 per cent of valuations in Dún Laoghaire attract rates; this is only half the rate base of Dublin city. The net result is that Dún Laoghaire is not getting enough money from the Department of the Environment. The corporation do not have the money, even with service charges, to provide an adequate service to the public.
Moreover, Dún Laoghaire is the only part of the greater Dublin area which has water charges. Citizens of Dún Laoghaire borough cannot understand or accept why they must pay on the double for local services while their neighbours in Dublin city and county — often literally across the road, or down the street from them — do not.
Dún Laoghaire's borough councillors meet again on Tuesday evening to discuss the annual estimate. It does not appear that it will be possible for the council to adopt an estimate this year. This will put Dún Laoghaire in the same predicament as Cork, and possibly Limerick and Waterford.
The possible abolition of the councils has been mentioned by the Minister as an option, but it is an unrealistic and undemocratic option. Could the Minister seriously contemplate abolishing four of the largest local authorities in the country, only months after they were elected by the people — in many cases with a direct mandate to resist water and service charges? Where does the Minister think that would lead? How does he seriously expect large urban areas to be governed without elected representatives? Apart from the possible political consequences for the Government parties, the abolition of councils would lead to municipal anarchy — a situation which I, and I am sure every Member of this House, would not wish to contemplate.
I ask the Minister, therefore, to meet with the local authorities who are now in trouble, and specifically to meet with Dún Laoghaire Borough Council as we have requested. I ask him also to make available an increase in the rate support grant for these local authorities to enable them to adopt acceptable estimates of expenses.
