Vol. 455 No. 1
86 Miss Harney asked the Minister for the Environment the functions, if any, which have been decentralised to local government under the provisions of the Local Government Act, 1991; the functions, if any, which have been removed from local government under this Act; and the steps, if any, which have been taken to enable local authorities to implement the provisions of this Act. [11729/95]
Functions have not been removed from local authorities under the Local Government Act, 1991. While no order has been made by the Government under that Act transferring functions from a Minister to local authorities, an order made by the Minister for the Environment under the Act in 1993 removed a range of central controls. The general competence provision of the Act removed the restrictive constraints of the ultra vires doctrine and greatly widened the discretion of local authorities to take action in the community interest.
It has been the policy, in framing new legislation in the last few years, that appropriate functions should be devolved to local authorities and unnecessary controls removed. Roads, road traffic and local government legislation in 1993 and 1994 provides accordingly in areas such as extinguishment of public rights of way, abandonment of public roads, speed limits, traffic management, parking controls, by-laws, libraries and provision of amenities. Local authorities have been given full responsibility for the various schemes outlined in the recently published document Social Housing — The Way Ahead. Future legislation of my Department affecting local authorities will continue these trends, wherever possible. In keeping with this approach, I made regulations last month which devolved to local authorities powers and functions in relation to the regulation of taxis and hackneys.
