Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is my pleasure to be here this morning at this meeting of the Joint Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government to discuss my proposals for the Local Government (Establishment of Town Councils Commission) Bill 2017.

Earlier this year, the Dáil debated my proposals on Second Stage of the Bill and I set out the rationale for the re-establishment of town councils in Ireland. Along with this opening statement I have attached an explanatory memorandum, setting out the nuts and bolts of how the Bill would operate. I was a member of my local town council in Navan for 17 years and my county council in Meath for 12 years so I know the immense benefit of good local government in people’s lives. Equally, I can see how large urban areas have suffered since 2014 as a result of the abolition of town councils.

This is evident during the preparation of budgets as anyone who has been a councillor would know. Spending in a dedicated urban centre has now been assimilated into the county spend and a small discretionary budget has been put in place instead. It is nothing more than a smokescreen, and a poor one at that. Areas are being thrown the crumbs from the local property tax table and councillors who received nothing for their area in the past are expressing gratitude as a result. For councillors in areas that never dealt with substantial local budgets before and subsequently see a few euros being spent in an area, there is now a belief that this is positive local governance.

However, for those who served in former town council areas, the situation is even worse. They previously dealt with the consideration and passing of budgets worth many millions. These have now been eradicated and it is down to a contribution of mere thousands. The context of why I am proposing the Bill is important. As I said when the Bill was introduced, people are going to ask why we want to see something that was gone come back into existence again. Our towns are under threat not just from economic forces, but from planning, whereby people and employment zones are being forced through overarching plans to base themselves in our largest cities. Through the loss of their statutory planning and budgetary plans, our towns are left at a distinct disadvantage in trying to promote their town centres.

Throughout my time on both Navan Town Council and Meath County Council, the financial position of both bodies could not have been more stark. Navan Town Council always recorded a surplus in its revenue accounts during that period. In contrast, Meath County Council was in debt to the tune of over €10 million. When as a town council we wanted to proceed with projects to enhance our large urban town, such as major street refurbishment and in particular the construction of a multi-million euro theatre and arts centre, we were able to leverage funds with the banks because we had our own financial independence separate from the county council. Consequently, by raising finance through new local funding streams we were able to demonstrate to the banks that there would be a dedicated source of funding provided in order to repay those bank loans. At the same time, they would not have touched the county council with a stick. Politically, and this is the crucial point, because we were a stand-alone statutory body, it was possible for this piece of business to be conducted by the nine elected members of the people of Navan, and not the county councillors from other electoral areas.

What I have noticed since the abolition of town councils is that plans such as those I have just mentioned or expenditure for town centres have become increasingly controversial and difficult to pass at full county council meetings. Councillors from other areas are objecting to what they see as preferential treatment for town centres. That should not be the case. Large urban centres, where such a large proportion of local property tax, commercial rates and other parking and revenue charges are raised, deserve to have statutory bodies. This ensures that spaces where people live are enhanced and given dedicated service to ensure they are viable places to live, work and enjoy recreation.

Planners at local and national levels love to spin the infamous buzz words of towns in which people can live, work and play. I listened to them for 17 years on a council. However, they seem to forget them anytime plans are compiled. People are condemned to live in soulless suburbs without any of the necessary social facilities which makes a town a community. Local democracy works best when the public representatives for the area have proper powers to deliver the best results for those they represent. We have one of the weakest local government structures to begin with in Europe. That is a proven fact. Effectiveness has been radically diminished since the abolition of town councils. This is not party political because it applies to us all. Any officials trying to say that this is not the case are simply protecting the status quo. They are neither listening to the people of these towns nor indeed the Deputies and Senators who have spoken passionately on this subject. I thank all the Deputies, across party political lines, who supported the Bill on Second Stage in July when some very positive and passionate contributions were made in the Chamber.

We have one of the most centralised government systems in the Western world. This is a point that has been factually proved by Dr. Sean O’Riordan from the local government information unit, LGIU. We also have one of the lowest levels of public representation in Europe. In France, there is one public representative for every 118 people. Denmark, a country which is similar in size to our own, has a ratio of one public representative to 1,115 people. However, in Ireland that figure is one public representative to every 2,815 people. The only country with a ratio nearly as bad as ours is the UK where it is one to 2,660. The point that we are overrepresented by politicians was used as a rationale for the eradication of town councils. The statistics show that we are not.

I will finish with some comments made my colleague, Deputy Michael McGrath, who spoke in the Dáil Chamber on this Bill.

He explained how he started off his political life on the town council of Passage West. It was not a large town council and did not have a massive budget. However, Deputy McGrath made the crucial point that its very existence ensured that a town manager, a town engineer and other members of the executive had to bother to come to the town at least once a month and present themselves before the members elected by the people of that town to explain deficiencies in service and outline how they were going to fix them. That simple practice alone ensured there was accountability for local people. That no longer happens.

We need proper and full accountability and strong local governance. I seek to ensure that we put that back in place and give a vote of confidence to local councillors in running the affairs of their local towns. I do not want to see the towns where people live starved of funding in a system that is already starved of funding. I note that a delegation from the Association of Irish Local Government came before the committee a couple of months ago to set out its views on that very topic.

This Bill is the first step in putting back in place a town council system that will be fit for purpose. I acknowledge the deficiencies that existed in the previous one. It will ensure that the people living in the urban centres of this country, be it in Tralee, Drogheda, Bray, Kilkenny or Navan, will get the special focus that can only be delivered through the re-introduction of our town councils.

I thank the committee for allowing me to speak this morning. I welcome any questions members may have.