I will resume where I finished last Thursday when the time available to me was unfortunately limited. I did, however, manage to give the House a full account of the Government's funding proposals for local Government. I am sure these will be discussed in greater detail later. There are some other aspects to the Bill not related to funding which I will now discuss.
The first aspect provides for the postponement of local elections from June of this year to June 1999. I take this opportunity to explain to Deputies that the Government has decided to hold the local elections on 11 June 1999. This was decided after the Bill was published. The decision to postpone was not lightly taken. Local elections are the principal means by which the political will of the local community is expressed. It is now almost four years since the people spoke at town elections and almost seven in the case of city and county authorities.
Ordinarily, therefore, the case for local elections in June of this year would be strong. However, these are not ordinary times for local government. There are substantial and unique arguments why the elections should be postponed for 12 months. A short breathing space is necessary because a major programme of local Government renewal spanning a number of years is now under way. It is important, therefore, that the general outline of the new local government system should be known before the electorate decides who is best suited to represent them. Few would deny that local government needs to be made more attractive to a wider range of people, particularly women and the young. The prospect of a vibrant and reinvigorated local government system should help provide broader participation. A review of the electoral areas, taking account of the 1996 census results, is needed due to population changes since the last review in 1985.
The Minister, Deputy Dempsey has established committees to review local electoral areas and to report by 1 July next. The establishment of the strategic policy committees system which will strengthen and widen local democracy is now well under way, representing the most radical development in local government for decades. It is important the system is given the chance to operate and become embedded at local level before elections are held. The reasons for this short postponement are, therefore, unique. It will allow the building blocks of the local government renewal programme to be put in place or at least known before the electorate decides who should represent them at this crucial time of change.
The second aspect of the Bill which is unrelated to funding relates to local authority recruitment procedures. There is currently a statutory requirement that every permanent local authority office for which a professional qualification is required must be filled by the local appointments commissioners. The inflexible nature of this requirement has prevented a solution being found to the plight of professionals in general, and engineers in particular, who are being retained in temporary employment on a long-term basis by local authorities. Such is the length of service of many of these people at this stage that they should in equity be made permanent. This has not been possible up to now but this amendment will remove the statutory barrier and provide the flexibility to allow the position of these people to be regularised.
No decisions have yet been made on precisely which posts will in future be designated for filling through the LAC. The intention is, however, that the resources of the LAC will in future be devoted more to the selection and recruitment of the senior tiers of local authority posts. The more junior professional posts will be filled by way of local competition as is the case with the clerical and administrative grades.
I will now deal in more detail with the main provisions of the Bill. The most important provision is the establishment of the local government fund — this is included in section 3. The fund is the central cog around which the new financing system will revolve. The accounts of the fund will be audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General each year. Payments into the fund are dealt with in sections 4 and 5. The Minister will be required to pay £270 million into the fund in 1999 from the Department's Vote towards the general purposes expenditure of local authorities. I have already explained some of the uses to which this money will be put and the in-built mechanism to protect its value for future years and to alter it if circumstances change. Section 5 provides for the payment into the fund of the proceeds of motor tax. This will also include driver licence duties and other miscellaneous fees and duties collected by the licensing authorities.
The purposes for which moneys may be paid out of the local government fund are set out in section 6. These will include contributions towards the expenditure of local authorities on non-national roads and general purposes expenditure. It may also include payments to local authorities in respect of expenses incurred in promoting the delivery of quality and efficient local authority services and in respect of expenses incurred by the Minister in collecting motor tax. This section also provides for the establishment of a committee to advise the Minister on payments to local authorities from the fund.
Section 7 allows local authorities to deduct the expenses incurred by them in collecting motor tax before they pay the balance remaining into the local government fund. A similar provision was contained in the Local Government (Financial Provisions) Act, 1997.
The adjustments to the motor tax rates are provided for in section 8. The increases will be 3 per cent from a date to be appointed by order following the enactment of this legislation, and a further 3 per cent from 1 January 1999.
Sections 9 and 10 provide for the postponement of local elections until 1999. As stated earlier, this is being done to facilitate a review of electoral area boundaries and any structural changes to local government arising out of commitments in An Action Programme for the Millennium in regard to local government renewal. The local elections will, therefore, coincide with the European elections in 1999 and will be held every fifth year thereafter.
Section 11 removes the statutory requirement in the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Act, 1926, that every permanent local authority office for which a professional qualification is required must be filled by the Local Appointments Commissioners. The vast bulk of recruitment to local authorities is already carried out locally in any event.
Section 12 repeals various sections of the Local Government (Financial Provisions) Act, 1997, which are necessary to enable the new funding system to be introduced. A number of provisions of this Act, however, remain in place, including those abolishing domestic water and sewerage charges and establishing on a legal basis the local government — value for money — unit and value for money auditing.
It is fitting that we refocus on local government in this its centenary year. It is time we provide it with adequate resources. The funding system this Bill provides for will be buoyant and satisfy the funding needs of local government as we approach the millennium. It is also more broadly based and fairer than that proposed by the previous Government. Without adequate funding we cannot have a meaningful proactive local government system. The House can be assured that all efforts will be made to ensure the funding made available to local government will be used wisely and that the public will be able to recognise this clearly in the years to come.
I am very pleased to move this important legislation on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Dempsey. It will provide the resources necessary to support a local government system of which we can be proud and which will meet the needs of a modern democracy. This Bill is worthy of the support of every Member of the House and I look forward to a constructive debate on it. I confidently commend the Bill to the House.