Dr. Elaine Byrne:

I am not an expert on local government and have limited experience of it. For two or three years I sat on the strategic policy committee of Dublin City Council. From that experience I found that city councillors of all hues and political backgrounds were extraordinarily committed to local government and extraordinarily committed to their city. Also, there was incredible frustration at the limit to what they could do in local government because of funding issues. Local government in Ireland has very weak financial autonomy compared to that in other EU countries. There is a large reliance on central government funding. In Dublin City Council's case, for a decade there were outstanding fees from the Government in property taxes on State buildings around the city. Therefore, I think this weak financial base of local government in the 1990s and the influx of money in property development levies gave local government a large dependence on property levies. I defer again, however, to people who are experts on local government.