Mr. Michael McCarthy:

I thank the committee for the invitation to appear before it today to speak about the commission's 2021 annual report. I am joined by Mr. Ciarán Hayes and Ms Claire Gavin.

The annual report provides a report into the functions of NOAC in the preceding year and provides details on NOAC’s membership, engagements, expenditure and a summary of work conducted throughout the year. The report itself is freely available to the public, along with all its other reports and minutes of NOAC meetings on the commission's website, .Additionally, the report is presented to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and this committee.

By way of background, the Local Government Reform Act 2014 introduced significant changes to a wide range of aspects of the local government system, including in matters of accountability and oversight. In that regard, the Act provided for the establishment of NOAC in July 2014 as an independent statutory body to provide oversight of the local government sector in Ireland. Its functions are wide-ranging, involving the scrutiny of performance generally, and financial performance specifically. NOAC also has a role in supporting best practice, overseeing implementation of national local government policy and monitoring and evaluating implementation of corporate plans, adherence to service level agreements and public service reform by local government bodies. A Minister may also request that NOAC prepare a report relevant to its functions on any specified aspect of local government. NOAC’s role in local government policy is to oversee how the national policy is implemented by local government bodies. NOAC does not have a function in providing input to the development of policy for the sector. NOAC’s membership is statutorily prescribed as a minimum of six and a maximum of nine members. There is provision for the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage increasing, by order, the number of members to a maximum of 12 for a period of up to two years. Currently, NOAC has nine members, including the chairperson. Vacancies that arise are advertised by the Public Appointment Service and appointments are made by the Minster for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. NOAC is funded from the Local Government Fund and its allocation for 2021 was €350,000.

As outlined in the report, most of the work of NOAC is carried out through its four working groups on local government governance, efficiency and reform; performance indicators; communications and customer survey; and financial management and performance. The commission produced numerous and varied reports throughout 2021. Of particular note are the scrutiny reports. In 2017, NOAC, in accordance with its statutory functions, began to review the performance of individual local authorities using primarily information from its reports to draw up a profile of the relevant local authority. This is a two-stage formal process. To date, NOAC has completed 18 of these meetings and the reports on these meetings are published on the commission's website. This process is ongoing.

NOAC also produced the seventh annual report on performance indicators, which allows local authorities to view where they are performing well and to review any areas where performance could be improved upon. NOAC examines 42 separate indicators covering 11 areas, including roads, planning and housing. In 2021, the commission hosted two virtual workshops with local authorities to provide guidance on the collection and submission of data for the 2020 report. As a follow-up to this work, six validations meetings were also hosted with selected local authorities. The commission held its annual good practice seminar in conjunction with the Local Government Management Agency, LGMA, and the County and City Management Association, CCMA, in November 2021. This in-person and an online event allowed it to be brought to an even wider audience. The seminar has become a focal point for NOAC, bringing together the local government sector and showcasing where good practice can be demonstrated, shared and be reproduced, where appropriate, across local government.

NOAC published a review of local authority and regional assembly corporate plans for 2019 to 2024 that examined the adequacy of these plans and provided recommendations to support the development of best practice in corporate planning in local authorities. NOAC also published the annual Public Spending Code Report 2020, which provided a composite report based on the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's public spending code quality assurance requirements.

I look forward to the discussion with the committee members on the work outlined. I assure the committee that we are happy to be here to have this interaction, especially after the experience of Covid-19 in the last two years. The work of the members of the committee as legislators was especially frustrated, but we all managed to find a new way of operating. We are more than happy to engage with the members of the committee on any questions they may have. I flag that while I may not have all the answers here now, I will strive earnestly to get the information to the members as soon as possible.