Mr. Damien Ryan:

I thank the Cathaoirleach for the opportunity to address this forum. I am conscious of time. I will try not to be repetitive, but there are a few things I wish to say.

First, regarding the reintroduction of town councils, I come from an area, as the chief executive of Mayo has just mentioned, that never had a town council but now has the provision of a municipal district. It is probably one of the most cohesive and constructive municipal districts in the country.

There are vacuums in towns but we certainly do not need to dismantle the municipal districts. We might need to enhance them somewhat. That is the way forward because heretofore there was a significant rates base in the town councils. That was primarily spent in the urbanised area, which meant the large geographical areas outside of that were deprived of money. The issue of the funding of local authorities has come up, but maybe an enhanced municipal district is the way to go. The municipal district structure is certainly serving the large communities very well. If there is any criticism of it, it is about how we look at funding local authorities going forward.

That brings me to the issue of executive functions versus reserved functions. There is a level of respect in the majority of local authorities throughout the country. The majority of councillors get elected to make responsible decisions. That works very well where there is that level of respect. There will always be issues that cause friction but councillors have to realise that with power comes responsibility. We sign up to improve our local authorities and the areas and people we represent. There may need to be a penalty or sanction for councillors who prove problematic all the time and take negative decisions that have a direct impact on their areas. The experience seems to be that when we find it hard to get stuff through at national level, reserved functions are being eroded and become a ministerial act or executive function. That is causing friction. That is being honest. We need to look at the issue of giving power to a councillor. We all look for power but we have to realise and appreciate that responsibility comes with that, including economic and policy responsibility and all that constitutes reserved functions.

The JPCs were mentioned. I have no issue with the community partnerships that have been set up. However, those partnerships were a retrograde step that needs to be revisited. One of the most effective arms of local government was the JPCs. The community partnerships could work in tandem with the JPCs, maybe from a municipal district level up, but we need our county JPCs restored. Law and order is part and parcel of what we do. We have no role in law and order but we can certainly point to where the issues are coming from.

We pride ourselves on being proud Europeans but our regional structures have let us down significantly. The most recent development plan ignored pretty much 38% of the land mass of Ireland, with a few minor exceptions. If we had strong regional powers, with recommendations into a national plan, the likes of that would not happen. We need to look at how that is done in Europe.

In any discussion of future terms and conditions for local authority members, a seat has to be afforded at that particular negotiating table. We represent the body of councillors of Ireland. We are the union, as such, of councillors. That needs to be afforded to LAMA and the AILG. It is very important we have a voice in that regard.

The other part of it, and this goes back to reserved versus executive functions, is the Office of the Planning Regulator, OPR, and the targets imposed upon us. It became as if management was trying to enforce stuff upon us. We were given unrealistic targets in our development plans. It is our main role but the straitjacket superimposed on us was unrealistic and unworkable in a scenario where there is a housing crisis. That came along with the withdrawal of Part 8s.

It goes back to what I said regarding people having to take their responsibilities seriously. They cannot take them lightly. There has to be a sanction for problematic councillors where the area and region they represent is being deliberately denied the investment and projects it needs. The strategy must also reflect a fair and equal balance across the areas. If the need originates in the areas, we are all obliged to look after that need.