Before we adjourned I was reflecting on amendments which, if other things happen, will have to be made to the text of section 4, on which amendment No. 18 touches. The provisions of paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) will have to be changed. They relate to development by the council of a county in its functional area, exclusive of any borough or urban district; development by the corporation of a county or other borough in that borough; and development by the council of an urban district in that district. If the Minister has his way all those references will disappear and be replaced by the term “town council”. This will mean different things in different places as not all town councils will be same. Some – those now known as town commissioners – will have no planning functions, while others – those now known as urban district councils and boroughs which have corporations – will have exactly the same planning functions as they have now.
No matter what the Minister says, it is proposed to deprive the five boroughs of Kilkenny, which has been described as a city for several hundred years – the marble city – Clonmel, Wexford, Sligo and Drogheda of something they now have and which they regard as being rather important. No matter how much the Minister explains that he is not changing their functions, he still cannot get away from the fact that his reaction to the way in which people see this bureaucratic proposal to simplify the terminology that the Department has to use has turned it into a studied insult, particularly to the population of the city of Kilkenny.
We will not get to the Local Government Bill this session and it remains to be seen if we will get to it in this Dáil. The issue raised by Deputy Gilmore about the propriety of the procedures for planning will continue to be important for these five boroughs but we will have to remember that, if the Minister gets his way, they will have to be referred to in the same way which will mean different things in different places.