Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I fully concur with the two previous speakers. I welcome the representatives of the Association of Irish Local Government and the County and City Managers Association, CCMA. I criticised the County and City Managers Association a long time ago but I am glad to see its representatives here today. I am glad to see both groups in the room and I thank them for their presentations.

I am a former county councillor in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown for many years. I was also involved in the local enterprise board, which in our case was Venture Point. What is coming through from the previous speakers and generally from people I spoke to in the days leading up to this meeting was that simple word "bureaucracy". Deputy Casey referred to it in his contribution. It is interesting that Mr. Reid stated in his submission that the remit of local authorities has been broadened, with a strengthened role in local community, economic and cultural development but there is a distinction between the executive of a local authority and the elected members of a local authority, and we need to tease that out.

When all of this was discussed initially there was a genuine concern among elected members of county councils in that they have vast local knowledge. Many local councillors are immersed in the businesses of their communities outside of their political role. Many local councillors were involved in community development. Many people came into politics and local government through community development. That is what brought them on to the next stage in that they felt they needed to get into the centre of politics to influence change for the betterment of the community, their neighbours, the people who live among them and themselves. Clearly, that is a vital motivation for many people and it is one I would encourage and support.

The representatives of the County and City Management Association spoke about the roll out of broadband and the digital society, all of which is important. It is all happening too slowly for many people. I am based in Dublin. We are all here today in Dublin. It is very Dublin centric but if one goes a few miles out of Dublin, it is a different scenario in terms of economics, the digital hub, connectivity and the Internet. One cannot physically get access. Someone spoke to me the other day about trying to get access to An Bord Pleanála, the national appeals board website. They could not access it in a community which is actually Kildare. There are issues in that regard that need to be addressed.

I will get straight to the point. The witnesses have come in here with four recommendations to the committee. I will deal with the third one first. They recommend that the administration of the LCDCs be properly resourced and supported. Will they tease that out? I take it from that that they are not properly resourced and supported or perhaps that is presumptuous of me. However, the witnesses have made the statement and they should tease it out.

The witnesses represent a very powerful body in terms of local government. It is important that they make these statements but we need to hear them in a bigger forum. There is a tendency to believe, and this is my personal view as a former member of a local authority, that the County and City Managers Association has a slightly cosy arrangement in that they tend to comply. There is a close synergy, understandably, with the officials in the Customs House but the public, and particularly the councillors, do not quite understand that synergy. Minutes of the association's meetings are not circulated to local authorities. I do not see them on their website. I am not fully aware, nor are other councillors, of the finer detail of the policy that it agrees. We know that local authorities fund the witnesses' organisation. That funding comes out of revenue from local authorities. I do not expect a full answer from the witnesses today but I will leave them with that question. How can their organisation communicate better with the 31 local councils in this country? They need to know their stance, policy and the decisions they have reached with the officials in the Customs House.

Another recommendation is the proposal that the CCMA should engage with the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government to prepare a suitable methodology for the monitoring and evaluation of the plans. Will they tease that out? What are they saying? They are proposing it so it does not exist. Why does it not exist? Do the witnesses have a timeframe for when it will exist? That is very important.

To go back to the issue of resources, the witnesses tell us there are 537 commitments that are key deliverables. Clearly, those are divided among 31 councils to a greater or lesser extent and it is important they deliver. There should be some pilot scheme involving the local government auditing service or some arm of that organisation randomly selecting two or three local authorities and monitoring them to see how they are performing and delivering. That would be a key start. In fact, I intend to suggest that to someone in the Department. The Minister or somebody else should consider doing that at some stage to be helpful, not to be critical. Three local authorities could be randomly selected to see whether these key objectives are being prioritised because that will be an issue of concern. We cannot continue to support something that does not work. In any meaningful consultation regarding the process, the witnesses might engage with the elected members, the county councillors.

I want to address one or two issues regarding the Association of Irish Local Government. We have to be careful. As a former member of a local authority I am aware that local councils promote partnership. It is important that local councils are seen to be in partnership with entrepreneurs and community development. As I have said previously, many councillors have come through the community development or co-operative sectors or representative bodies of industry, trade and agriculture. They know and work well with those established organisations. However, this is a sea change. We have to let it bed down. We have to give it time, but we have to monitor it also. The concern I am hearing from elected members, which is understandable, is about their role. There is an annual report to the local authority but what happens to that? How are local authority members engaging with the report? If I were to read five or six local authority reports in the future, I would like to think there was a record of engagement by elected members and councillors regarding the statutory reports that should follow through on this process coming to the council. We need to give it time. It is easy to criticise something. Nobody likes the perception that they are losing control or power. Politicians are of all hues but they are elected. They have a democratic mandate. That is very important but I am not sure if it is being reflected in the way this scheme is going ahead. It may need tweaking to have full regard to the democratic mandate elected councillors have across the country.

It is one that should be acknowledged. It should not just be lip service. It should be clearly stated. It is an area in which I believe there is a weakness that needs to be addressed. I thank both groups for meeting the committee today.