Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)

-----and every county manager in the country. We can then use a system set up through the Better Local Government programme which involves corporate policy groups and strategic policy committees. Through this system, we can give the people in local government real power to develop policies and drive ideas, and, in the case of Roscommon County Council, manage a budget of €70 million. The opinions and needs of people in our areas must be taken into account, because people in Dublin cannot possibly know what it takes to live in Roscommon, just as people in Roscommon will not know how best to do things in Limerick. That is the reason local governments should have increased powers.

Under the current system, people come to their local elected representatives and ask them to do things. Really, the best one can do for them is to promise that one will ask the people in the council to do what is required. One must explain that one really has absolutely no power - that would be a silly thing to do politically, but if one was to be honest, that is what one would say - but one will do one's best for them. However, if we changed the system so that councillors really did have the power, they could actually do something for their local citizens. A lot of money could be saved under this system because, under the current system, county councillors are without a shadow of a doubt incentivised to close their eyes and ignore waste. This is my experience and that of many other councillors I have spoken to. If, as a county councillor, one finds that the council is wasting money and one points it out to those who work there, instead of being pleased that one has found a way for them to save money, they get annoyed and take the angle that one is criticising them. They think one is saying they are doing something wrong - although that is basically what one is doing - but when one is reliant on them because one has no power to change things, one will be reluctant to do that.

I was not a smart political animal on the county council. From day one, I went in like a bull and pointed out that it was wasting money left, right and centre. My reward was that I was stonewalled.

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