Malcolm Noonan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

This is a great opportunity for us to have input into this important process. I served for 16 years as a councillor on Kilkenny County Council. Being the only Green in the village was often challenging during that time. It was very difficult at times because I took a contrarian view on issues and I felt isolated. At the same time, it was a rewarding experience. I respectfully disagree with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, in relation to the 2014 reforms putting people first. With the greatest respect, the Minister of State has hit the ground running since coming into the Department and is doing fantastic work but Phil Hogan's reforms decimated local government. The abolition of borough and town councils was a political stroke that undermined local accountability. I was a member of one of the five borough councils and the Kilkenny corporation had a history dating back to the 13th century.

Now more than ever, the urban agenda is distinct from a wider county and rural agenda. The urban agenda across the EU is around participation in climate plans and the recently adopted nature restoration law, sustainable development goals, natured-based solutions, town centre first - all initiatives that need a specific urban focus. We could not get everything we wanted in the programme for Government. The Green Party wanted to bring back borough and town councils. A future government should consider doing that.

The directly elected mayor is positive. As Deputy McAuliffe said, the option is available now for other local authorities to follow suit. I wish John Moran the best in his tenure but we should mirror what is happening at a European level, not just with directly elected mayors but also their ability to elect a cabinet and implement a five-year programme for government. That is important.

On the Moorhead reforms for councillors' pay and conditions, the implementation is welcome but the overarching structure, broader role of elected representatives at local level and strategic focus Moorhead spoke to also need to be considered. A lot of this is just random thoughts. I will try to get them out in the three minutes I have. It is about participatory planning and people moving away from linear public Part 8 processes. We need to move to a default of using participatory planning methods. Similarly, with participatory budgeting, there is the issue of transparency and decision-making, livestreaming meetings and the local media reporting fund. There is a deficit at local level due to the decimation of local newspapers and radio and their capacity to report on what happens at council meetings. That would also improve transparency.

On the bigger picture, the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, is correct that the elected member has an important role in development plans, the national planning framework, climate action plans, Housing for All, the national biodiversity action plan and the nature restoration plan, which will affect the urban agenda as well as housing strategy. There is quite a lot. Co-design and collaborative planning need to be embedded in local government. We also need to consider other means of generating income for local authorities. Overreliance on rates leads to and drives dereliction in towns. Perhaps energy supply companies and the tourist tax Senator Higgins mentioned could be considered.

There are a number of other critical points. Training for elected members needs to be more focused and specific in relation to the changed role local authorities now have, particularly on climate, biodiversity and nature-based solutions. Could local authority members leave the local government five-year cycle with a relevant qualification? Should we look at limiting the number of terms councillors serve to three? It is the idea of mirroring European local government, reaching out, looking at the Committee of the Regions, deepening our connections with European local authorities and learning from those shared experiences.

The Electoral Commission has an important role in participation in our electoral system. Thankfully, there was a marked increase in people from minority backgrounds contesting the local elections, which I welcome. Quite a number of them were successful in getting elected. We need greater diversity and more women in our local council chambers.

On apprenticeships, we were talking about turning around voids in local authority housing stock. Back in time, local authorities were able to take on apprentice plumbers and electricians and were able to do that work in-house rather than tendering it out. We should move back to that.

From a heritage perspective, I would love to see an entire heritage team in local authorities - a heritage officer, biodiversity officer, architectural conservation officer, archaeologist and archivist. Having those interdisciplinary skills in-house would be fantastic and save the local authority money in tendering out such work. I welcome the opportunity to speak. I put forward quite a lot of ideas.