Luke Flanagan (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The proposed reduction in the number of TDs from 166 to 158 should go further. While I believe there should be more democracy in this country, at the same time, the democracy is all in the wrong place. I personally believe 80 TDs would be plenty for this country but, in order to achieve that, we need real local and regional government reform.

I found what Deputy Tuffy said very interesting. She pointed out that people often mention Britain and India as an example when they talk about the number of MPs, or TDs in our case. Deputy Tuffy rightly said this was unfair because they have regional and local government. That being true, and I agree with it, what are we going to do to create more regional government and more real local government?

The proposals are to close down many of the local councils, further castrate the county councils and turn them into even bigger talking shops, but there is no real desire for change in the power base. Last year a Fine Gael Deputy espoused an opinion on local government that showed what many here thought. The Deputy said people were looking for more power at local level but what they seemed to forget was that it would give us less power here. That sums up the attitude - the governing party wants to hold onto the power it has. God knows it had to wait long enough to get it and I can understand the natural urge to hold on to it, but if that is not for the benefit of the majority of the people, why do it? It does not benefit the majority. The current system only puts people off politics, the proof of which is that there are people cheerleading the idea that we would enjoy less democracy. There would not be localism in the Dáil if we had real local democracy. In those circumstances I would not be here because my place is in local government. The Minister’s job is to legislate, but he has neither the time nor the incentive to drive that agenda, as it will not get him re-elected. If he did bury himself completely, 100%, in dealing with legislation, he would never get a chance to talk to his constituents in the way he does now. We need a separation.

The concern about having more elected representatives is that it would cost us more, but it would not. The money saved in reducing the number of Deputies to 80 would more than cover the cost involved. If the Minister is to cut at local level, he should cut the number of county councillors and invest the money saved in real local government reform at town level because otherwise it will not work. Consider the position in Switzerland: in areas with a population of only 100 they decide whether a footpath is to be pulled up again this year, they make a practical decision on whether to lay another shiny new footpath 12 months after laying the old one or on whether to upgrade their swimming pool, which would increase the possibility of increasing tourism in the area and decrease the possibility of people committing suicide because they would have more recreational facilities available and help to combat obesity, etc. Instead we have a system in which there is an attempt to control these decisions from the centre. This is not a question of Dublin against the rest. The Government cannot decide exactly what is right for people in Castlerea any more than I from Dublin can make my kids eat Weetabix at home, no more than people in Donegal know what is best for people in Castlerea and no more than I know what is best for people on Jervis Street. The decisions should be made locally. Then the system would work much better. Even though the members of the Government and the people who vote for it seem to have a problem with the fact that we do not have real local government nothing will happen or change. As the Fine Gael Deputy said last year, they would have no power. That is what it is all about, us having power because then a Deputy can be reported in the newspaper boasting about getting X, Y and Z for his or her constituency. That does not help people in general.

This commission guarantees that yet again my constituency will not return the same Deputies. In the history of the State Roscommon has never returned the same three Deputies. Even in my short time in politics, I have run for election in Longford-Roscommon, South Leitrim and Roscommon and now it appears that I will run in Roscommon and Galway East. No one can question the independence of the commission and if anyone does, I will say he or she is wrong. It is not often I can say that definitively because even when it comes to God, I am agnostic. I am not sure either way, but I am definite about this. The commission was totally independent because otherwise it would have redrawn my constituency in a slightly differently way. People on the ground are saying the commission hanged the Government guy. I do not know whether that is true, but I do know from the way my constituency has been redrawn that it was definitely independent, as otherwise it would not have made a big attempt to put me in that constituency.

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