Niall Collins
Ceist:4Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for the Environment; Community and Local Government his plans for political reform in 2012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5952/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThursday, 2 February 2012
Ceisteanna (3)
Freagraí ó Béal (3 píosaí cainte)
The Government in 2011 set out a broad and ambitious programme for political reform. Responsibility for this rests with a number of Ministers. My responsibility is in the areas of electoral and local government reform.
On 15 December 2011, I published the Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill. This makes provision for the restriction of corporate donations, a reduction in the amounts that can be received as political donations and a reduction in the thresholds for declaring such donations. Political parties will be required to submit their annual accounts to the Standards in Public Office Commission for publication.
The Bill also includes a provision linking the achievement of a gender balance in the selection of candidates of political parties at a general election to the State funding provided to parties under the Electoral Act 1997. The Bill commenced Second Stage in the Seanad today and I look forward to its early enactment in 2012.
The Government legislative programme announced on 11 January makes provision for the publication in 2012 of the electoral (amendment) (referendum spending and miscellaneous provisions) Bill. This Bill will provide for the disclosure of expenditure and donations at referendum campaigns and for the extension of the spending limit period that applies at presidential, Dáil, European and local elections.
The Electoral (Amendment) Act 2011, enacted in July 2011, changed the terms of reference of the constituency commission to provide for a reduced number of Deputies. Section 9(1) of the Electoral Act 1997 requires a constituency commission to present its report to the Chairman of the Dáil no later than three months after the publication by the CSO of the final results of the census in respect of the total population of the State. I understand the CSO intends to publish the final results of the 2011 census at the end of March 2012.
Based on the experience with reports presented by previous constituency commissions, I expect to bring forward legislation this year arising from the constituency commission's report. I will outline my plans for local government reform later when replying to the separate questions on today's Order Paper. As I already indicated to Deputy McGrath, I expect to bring proposals to Government in two months' time.
I thank the Minister. On the proposals on local government reform, to which he alluded in his reply, he said he will bring forward his proposals on town councils. In my county, Limerick, Limerick City Council and County Council will merge into a single entity. We have to be very careful not to dilute democracy and local government representation completely. The combined number of local representatives on both the authorities is 45 and the figure being mooted is between 32 and 34. The matter will have to be thrashed out.
If one is going to pursue a policy of retaining town and borough councils, which has merit because it is local democracy, one has to bear in mind that local public representatives cost a relatively insignificant amount of money in the overall scheme of local government. While we are trying to achieve savings by merging entities, the majority of costs do not involve local public representatives.
We need to get the balance right in terms of not diluting local democracy completely. It would not make sense to have a 32 member single authority in Limerick and retain seven town councils in a neighbouring county such as Tipperary. Such a situation would not be equitable.
I ask the Minister to enlighten us as to whether he intends to proceed with directly elected mayor in Limerick. He listed his agenda for other areas of political reform. I understand changing the voting age is in the programme for Government. What is the position on the proposal to abolish the Seanad?
The proposal to abolish the Seanad is a matter for another Minister and the Government has not yet decided when that will happen. It is in the programme for Government and it will make a decision in due course. Directly elected mayors will be considered in the context of local government reform and no conclusions have been reached on that in Limerick, Dublin or anywhere else.
On the general view that public representatives do not contribute much to the savings, I agree that representational allowances and expenses are a small part of the overall budgets but they are supported by a considerable number of administrative and other staff across the various programme areas in town and county councils. At a time when there are very serious financial problems and when we are interested in devolving more functions and powers, and streamlining the effective delivery of services, it is only reasonable to consider the fact there are too many councillors and councils. This will be reflected in the proposals I will bring forward in two months. It is already reflected in what I am doing in Limerick city and county, and in north and south County Tipperary.