Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

The Council of Europe Congress of Local and Regional Authorities completed a review into local government last October. I raised this issue in November and have raised it in parliamentary questions subsequently. The report was scathing. It found, not surprisingly, that Ireland has the most centralised system of local decision making and referred to the balance of power between the Executive and reserved functions at local authority level. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, who was taking questions that day said that this Government believes in local democracy, in empowering our local councils and giving them as much power as possible. Nothing substantial has really been done apart from the legislation for the directly elected mayor in Limerick, which I welcome. The substantive issue, however, has not been addressed. Is the Government responding to this report or is it merely going on the shelf?

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