Mr. John Keogh:

I thank the Cathaoirleach for inviting me to address him and the committee on the future of local democracy. There have been multiple reports on this very issue over the decades, many with the recommendation that local communities should have input in the decision-making process on issues that will affect their communities.

Local democracy is the foundation block upon which many of the democratic freedoms we enjoy today have been achieved over many decades. At a time democracies throughout the world are under attack from autocratic or totalitarian regimes, never was it more important to protect democracy by restoring decision-making powers to those elected to local government. I hope that the directly elected mayor of Limerick will be a first step in restoring powers to locally elected representatives, but why has it taken five years to get to this point?

For many years, and particularly since 2014, we have seen the stripping away of councillors’ powers while their workloads have increased through their appointment to multiple strategic policy committees and other committees. The abolition of town councils has only added to this workload. If a councillor is to carry out his or her duties effectively now, the councillor needs to be working in the role full time. Councillors have volumes of paperwork to digest, with little to no administrative support.

Given the increasing workload of the councillor, the pay and conditions do not encourage participation, knowing the work that will be involved and the fact that the councillor will not have a decision-making capacity in many respects. While there is a perception that councillors and external members have decision-making capacity when formulating policies on SPCs, the reality is that there is little to no deliberation on policy at SPC meetings and many such meetings only provide updates on work undertaken by council staff rather than see discussions on policy development. I raised this issue in respect of the SPC that I was the chairperson of for two years. Ireland is now an outlier when it comes to local democracy. We have far fewer local representatives per head of population compared with our European counterparts.

Local councillors are becoming increasingly frustrated by bureaucratic processes, regulation and the failure of central government to listen to those who know their areas best. Some State agencies demonstrate what I consider to be contempt for locally elected representatives by often refusing to meet them in a timely manner at the locations they desire. The uncivilised protest outside the Oireachtas last year is a byproduct of the diminution of the powers of those elected to local government. The role of the local councillor has become so mired in regulation and bureaucracy that the sword of Damocles hangs over councillors day in, day out, be it in respect of planning or data protection, so much so that an environment of fear has been created among elected members. When it comes to formulating county development plans, councillors are constantly warned of the requirement to strictly adhere to the national planning framework, national policy targets and regional planning guidelines or risk having those few remaining powers of local councillors stripped by the Minister of the day. Local authorities are no longer local governments. Rather, they have become administrative areas of central government.

Sadly, because of the demands of the office, threats and intimidation, the role of the councillor is no longer one that encourages people to seek election. Due to this, we regularly see capable women and men stepping down from elected office mid-term. In County Roscommon, we are seeing capable politicians not seeking re-election.

It is time to devolve power back to local government so as to allow communities greater input into the decisions that will affect them. Ronald Reagan’s speech, “A Time for Choosing”, is a lesson from which all those who seek to protect democracy could learn. When the rights of the community or county to make its own decisions and determine its own destiny are stripped away, the foundation block of democracy is removed. Remove the foundation block and all else falls.

I thank members to the opportunity to address them. I am happy to answer any questions they may have.