Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Independent) | Oireachtas source

He said that this was to be the most comprehensive programme of local Government reform ever undertaken in the history of the State. The same was said about the reforms of the late 1990s which introduced county development boards, strategic policy committees and area committees. The fact that we are now making the same claim shows the reform then was not radical enough. There is no doubt that this is certainly a reform package, however, the question is whether it is the right package of reforms and whether it will be about returning power to the people, as it claims.

Like many Members of this House, I have some practical experience of serving at both town and county council level. I served on both for over 20 years and my experience of both could not have been more different. The Minister referred to the often negative context of engagement between the citizen and local government, referring to such matters as complaints, payments for a service or dependency-based roles. That was what I experienced at county council level but not at town council level where there was a much more inclusive and positive engagement with citizens and where the experience was far more positive. The town council on which I served, which was the most recent one established and one of only four established in the history of the State, had very limited powers but had a critical impact on the social development and physical appearance of the town. The county council was a complex and complicated organ that citizens found very difficult to understand and navigate. It also mainly delivered hard essential services like water and wastewater that did not require citizen engagement unless something went wrong.

One of the central features of this legislation is the abolition of 80 town councils. While I would not argue for the retention of all of them the abolition of many of the larger or more effective ones will make a huge difference and will be noticed almost immediately. The Minister has established a working group chaired by Fr. Sean Healy that will consider a stronger role for the citizen. The Minister could do worse than take one of the functioning town councils and use that as a case study.

If political reform is to bear fruit we need to look at the whole set of political institutions rather than take a piecemeal approach. In doing this, we must work to our strengths. As a people, we have been capable of designing and building such great organisations and institutions such as the GAA, the credit union movement, the Tidy Towns associations and the Carers Association. All of these associations were a response to a need and capture values such as solidarity, volunteerism and care. Each association also functions within a defined geographic space with which people identify. Imagine if we were to build such elements into a reformed local government system that is designed in such a way that allows the kind of flexibility to foster initiative that is obvious at local level rather than sterile institutions that often stifle that flexibility. It is a system that works in harmony with its people rather than grates against them and is community rather than institution-focused. If they are successful, such institutions will foster a culture that is outwardly focused rather than process-driven.

Some elements of the reform thinking in Putting People First are about achieving a town or municipal focus. While there is universal cover achieved in the reforms proposed, what has not occurred is that these municipalities will exist as independent entities. There seems to be a continuing resistance to cutting the umbilical cord between the Department, the Minister and the county council. While the county manager position will be changed to that of a CEO, the all-powerful County and City Managers Association will continue to exist and will continue to be the primary connection between the councils and the Customs House.

This Bill is littered with lines like "The Minister specifies by order" or "The Minister shall issue guidelines". This highlights the unhealthy level of centralisation in evidence. Without dealing with that, we will continue to clutter national politics with things that should more properly be done at local level. I fully understand that cannot be achieved overnight and the stated intention is to make a start with some functions but to further devolve functions and powers over time. Will there be an ongoing commitment to devolve more functions if the reform programmes are not seen to deliver anything additional, particularly given that the property tax will be in the funding mix. Will local government or Departments bear new costs if further functions from other Departments are allocated to local government?

The Bill provides for the establishment of the municipal tier, which looks like the renaming of area committees. It is a fancy European name but I do not see much that is different in what is proposed. Some of these municipal districts contain nothing but a collection of rural areas. Identity is a key issue to the success of municipal district council. While the county is identified with for Gaelic games, particularly in September of each year, I am not convinced it is a good administrative unit or identifier. Counties are not uniquely Irish. They were established between the 12th and 17th centuries and were designed to be a means of control by the Crown. That culture of control has, unfortunately, continued and is an impediment to unleashing the ability that is evident in every community across this country. In terms of identity, I have referred in the past to the New Urban Living project carried by NUI Maynooth which identified four key elements to identity. The study found that the attachment to place of local residents was influenced by four main factors: the built and natural environment; the cultural character and life of the area; the quality of informal associational life, which is really at town or community level; and elective belonging, which refers to the reasons why people had chosen to live in their place of residence.

I am convinced we need to re-fashion our local government system in a way that allows people to govern themselves in a place they actually identify with and have elected to live in. I also believe we need to decide what it is that local government should do and at what levels. Sir Michael Lyons carried out a study in the UK and concluded that place shaping and the creative use of powers and influence to promote the general well-being of a community and its citizens should be the primary purpose of local government. When we think of community, we tend to think of it at a much lower level than county level. Indeed the organisations to which I referred earlier - the GAA, the credit union movement and Tidy Towns - all have their foundation based well below county level.

As public representatives we have unique insights into how our citizens and communities function and we all have impressive stories to tell about the get up and go that is visible at a local level. Unfortunately, we have a mediocre political system that lets down what happens at that level. The paradox in Putting People First is that it acknowledges the role county government plays as an inherent part of Irish identity but, according to Seán Ó Riordáin's critique for the AMAI, "[I]n one of the most radical proposals in regard to public service reform generally the focus of local government is towards the municipal level". My big concern is that while the focus is towards the municipal, the identity and resources are at the county level. I hope I am proved wrong but it appears to be the opposite of what is required.

If you want to know where the real power lies its important to see how the budget will be handled. Under Part 8 of the Bill, for example, the CEO of the county or city council shall consult the municipal district members. The words "shall consult" could mean anything. It certainly shows that the municipal districts will not be autonomous. Another possible clue is the schedule of municipal district works provided for in section 103A(1), as follows: “Following the adoption of the local authority budget, but before the start of each local financial year, a schedule of proposed works of maintenance and repair to be carried out during the financial year in each municipal district shall be prepared under the direction of the chief executive, having regard to the availability of resources." This provision deals solely with hard services such as roads, footpaths and lighting. Town councils do not appear to have a role in community building.

The Minister referred in his opening statement to new reserved functions for municipal districts but the sting in the tail was his comment that they will have a role in making charges on amenities, facilities or services provided by the local authorities within their districts. These community charges were available throughout the Celtic tiger years but they were never imposed. Given that they would be additional to the property tax, they simply are not going to happen.

The Bill proposes one local community development committee per county except where the Minister allows more. This provision mistakenly assumes that "local" means "county". Community building does not generally occur at county level but I do not see where it is provided for at municipal level. The county enterprise boards worked well but it is far from certain that their amalgamation into the business support units will work. As the micro-enterprise sector is critical to creating new jobs in the small enterprise sector, this amalgamation gives rise to risks.

I object strongly to the provision in section 44(c) whereby the leader of each registered political party is automatically included in the corporate policy group. Subsections (c)(i) and (ii) should be deleted. The d’Hondt system provides for a mathematical allocation based on what the citizens decide in an election. The sections providing greater transparency on conferences and expenses and the move to training at a more local level are welcome developments.

Schedule 7 Sets out the number of councillors per authority. Where there is a low population base a seat bonus is provided to make it possible to cover large areas with small populations. The Minister stated that the revised council membership numbers will ensure more equitable representation and better proportionality, and outlined the figures in this regard. Clearly, the equality is not perfect but, while it need not be perfect, it will have an impact on Seanad elections in that the in-built rural bias is retained. In the absence of universal suffrage that needs to be addressed in any reform of how the Seanad is elected.

The Bill provides for a number of amalgamations at county and city level and between county and town councils that were also rating authorities. Section 29 allows for the harmonisation of commercial rates between towns and counties, with a maximum of ten years to comply. The Minister argued this will allow elected members the discretion to link adjustments where possible to savings as they arise. Is it intended to adjust rates upwards or downwards and will two or more rates bills issue for the same area? How will this work in practice and will it lead to conflict where one part of a county or city feels it is subsidising another?

Section 31 Is a very significant change in regard to vacant properties. While rates refunds for vacant properties outside of Dublin, Cork and Limerick cities are currently allowed at 100%, the Bill provides for the 50% refund applicable in these cities to be extended elsewhere. This provision will cause serious hardship in areas that have lost a significant portion of their population or where spending power has decreased significantly. The Minister indicated that he may revisit this matter as the Bill makes it way through the Houses. It most certainly will be revisited and I will be putting down an amendment to seek a change to the matter.

Schedule 4 provides that all assets of the dissolved authorities will be transferred to the successor authority. Town councils that had been prudent in putting funds towards projects in the future will see the funds transfer to the county council or the municipality - it is not clear which body will receive them. In the case of Leixlip, for example, this would involve in excess of €300,000, the loss of which could create real resentment among residents even before the new municipal council is established. As other town councils will have liabilities, it is not clear whether the municipal district the county will be required to absorb them.

The changes to section 140 in respect of planning are welcome and were recommended by the Mahon tribunal. However, I question the wording in section 40 which places an obligation on an SPC to have regard to the spatial and economic strategy to regional assembly. The phrase "have regard" should be replaced with “to be consistent with” because the former phrase has long since been discredited. The repeal of the legal provision to surcharge either officials or councillors is also welcome. I have seen councillors threatened with surcharges if they did not adopt policies presented by officials.

Part 9 provides for the creation of three regional assemblies to replace the regional authorities. The regional and district council tiers should be more powerful because bigger regions would eliminate duplication of service across counties by amalgamating and centralising functions such as licensing and human resources. They would also have greater purchasing powers. Regional assemblies should be directly elected and made responsible for everything from transport to policing.

In practice, however, funding and human resources will determine what can be done, particularly in respect of discretionary funding. Costs for salaries and council properties will, of course, absorb much of a council's income. If funds are to be transferred from the council to the municipality, the key to enabling the work to proceed is to give councillors discretion over them. The general purpose fund, which is largely made up from motor tax receipts, is collected locally before being centralised and redistributed based on the needs and resources model. There are many flaws in that model and it particularly discriminates against growing areas. In this regard, 2008 was the year the general purposes grant stood at almost €1 billion but by 2013 it had decreased to €640 million. Since 2007 the other local authority income streams have also substantially declined.

When the property tax legislation was rammed through, one area that was not highlighted was that the money that was taken this year was entirely absorbed into the Central Fund. We were told that it was a necessary measure aimed at the reduction of the national debt. The Minister has stated that the local property tax is essential to renewing the relationship between local authorities and the citizens they serve. I challenge his assertion at a time when local government is being stripped of the ability to deliver any additional services. He also suggested that the changes would produce a stronger funding base.

Will he outline how he can justify that claim, given how much has been removed from the local government fund? There is a high level of compliance with the property tax, primarily because the Revenue Commissioners can dip into people's pockets. The increases in motor taxation have been wholly absorbed, affecting the general purpose grant.

Staffing resources vary widely across the country. We are all aware that an embargo is, and is likely to remain, in place. In Meath, there are 620 staff for a population of 184,135, yet Kerry has 1,166 staff, 546 more, for 40,000 fewer people. Kildare has 835 staff for 210,000 people while Mayo has more than 1,000 staff for 90,000 fewer people. It is clear the areas that will cope better with the changes are the ones with greater resources. This will lead to difficulties at municipal level. Housing administration, planning control, finance and human resources will absorb staff, rendering counties unable to deliver services.

Undoubtedly, Putting People First provides for discretion to decide what happens at municipal level. Without dealing with the issue of resources, however, there will be a serious problem. I echo Deputy Stanley's point about nominations to regional authorities, in that they will be significant negatives.

Municipal councils will be nothing more than area committees. They are nothing more than a box-ticking exercise in the abolition of town councils and relate to the Government's claim that it has dumped a load of local politicians. This development will be badly exposed. I am not confident it will deliver the kind of local government reform we need and deserve.

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