Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach as ligean dom teacht anseo agus labhairt libh faoin ábhar tábhachtach seo ar maidin. It has been quite a few years since I had direct responsibility for local government at Cabinet level. The comment of the rapporteur that we are all very recent does not quite apply in my case. But in truth, local government impacts constantly on the work of every Oireachtas Member. More recently, in my role as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, I had an overall platform on local government and its interaction with national government and with national delivery agencies and how each operated. I should say at the outset how important I believe local bodies, that is, local elected councils, are to proper functioning in our country.

If proof were needed, the outstanding work of our councils during the Covid-19 pandemic showed how in a crisis, whether the magnitude of Covid or a more localised disaster like localised flooding or fire, it is to the councils that we turn to provide a much-needed local response.

I am also conscious that my words merely add to the lip service that national politicians pay to local democracy. At national level we know what they do, we appreciate what they achieve but in truth we have done little collectively to rebalance the governing structures of our country. Ireland is a highly centralised country in public spending terms, with almost all spending decisions decided by central government. Many political parties and indeed many governments have committed to fundamentally decentralise but little has really changed. Spending at local level in 2022 amounted to 9.7% of all government spending. Less than €1 in €10 is determined at local level. In the EU 27, only Greece, Cyprus and Malta spend less at local level. Cyprus has a population of 1.2 million people and Malta has a population of just half a million. In contrast, the average across the EU was 34.4%, or just over a third of all public spending. The best performer, from the viewpoint of decentralised spending, was Denmark where better than two thirds, or 66.7%, was decided locally.

Total local government spending this year in Ireland will be €12.4 billion, that is, €7.2 billion in current expenditure and €5.2 billion in capital expenditure. Just under half of current revenue and almost 90% of capital spending will come from central government. The old adage holds sway, namely, he who pays the piper calls the tune. Our local government system is used to being dependent on central government to fund projects and for the services and developments it needs and wants. Not all local government systems are directly comparable. Different countries provide services like education, social care and health at different levels and therefore some direct comparisons can be deceptive. The central point I wish to make is that here in Ireland we have for a century chosen to deliver most services from the centre. Even when we decide to move the service provision away from direct central government Departments, we normally create a national agency to deliver the service, one that reports to central government. Some of the most obvious examples are healthcare being provided through the HSE or children's welfare being provided through Tusla. The oversight of any of these national providers to local elected councils is extremely limited. The question that needs to be answered is whether we are happy with this structure and whether it is fit for purpose or needs change.

My next question is whether the current county council and regional assembly system is best for Ireland. I must begin this with an unusual declaration for anybody standing and giving evidence and that is a humble apology. The Government I was a member of abolished town councils. I accepted at the time that the scale required for effective local government was best provided at county level. That I now believe was a serious mistake that should be revisited. The historic role of town councils, the closest layer of democracy to the citizen, is one which I believe is sorely missed. We diminished the most local and recognisable of bodies, namely, the boroughs of Wexford, Drogheda, Kilkenny, Clonmel and Sligo, as well as 75 other town councils. I am firmly of the view that any urban area of more than 5,000 inhabitants, should have its own town council. The principal of subsidiarity is defined in Article 5.3 of the Treaty on European Union and I believe it applies here.

The make-up of our local electorate areas also needs review. The State has no single system of administrative geography, no unified boundaries. Consequently, education and training boards, ETBs, community healthcare organisations, CHOs, Garda divisions and so on are created without reference to common boundaries and largely without effective local oversight. At regional level, we have created assemblies for the northern and western region, the eastern and midland region and the southern region. Again, the three assemblies do not align with the European parliamentary constituencies. The regional assembly stated aim in the Local Government Reform Act 2014, is to co-ordinate, promote and support strategic planning and sustainable development and make local government and public services more effective. They have no actual control over the regional spending they discuss. Their individual budgets and their staffing are quite frankly minimal. Their total income last year was €8.6 million, with €4.6 million coming from local councils, and €4 million from other sources. We are not serious about devolved regional control and maybe we should not be but we should make an informed decision.

To conclude my opening remarks, for over 100 years of independence we have grown a centralised system of public administration. In all of the election campaigns in which I have been involved over more than 40 years, reshaping public administration has in itself never loomed large. People do, however, demand and require local accountability. This includes accountability for local hospital performance, the operation of the local transport system and a range of services, from childcare provision to local policing. This is an important review that this committee has undertaken. I congratulate and welcome the review and look forward to assisting the committee in its work.