Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

The problem is not that they do nothing - it is what they do and what they are allowed to do. It was ludicrous for the Deputy who spoke before me to argue that councillors should be paid a full-time wage, while at the same time making the case for a system that has stripped away the decision-making powers of councillors. In my experience, many councillors spend their time annoying council officials by looking for information that is in the public domain anyway. Rather than participating in governance and decision-making, they look for letters to promote themselves. The nub of this issue is that local councillors are not empowered to make decisions on small or large items, which means that the public is similarly disenfranchised.

I will mention a simple example of the problem I am talking about. When the county manager and the officials in Fingal County Council were grappling with a large number of retiring librarians in the context of the recruitment embargo and the opening of a new library, they decided to axe library hours at lunchtime and in the evenings at a number of libraries. The councillors and the public were up in arms - motions were passed unanimously at council meetings - but the cuts went ahead nonetheless. That example has been repeated in every county regarding many other issues. Powers were removed from councillors to disenfranchise the public.

When I listened to the debates that took place in advance of the recent Seanad referendum, I found it ironic to hear Michael McDowell casting himself as a great liberator and defender of democracy as part of the campaign to maintain the elitist Seanad. He was a member of the Cabinet that ensured decision-making powers were removed from councillors, one after the other. He showed some neck, given that his Government removed from councillors the power to set or levy council rents, water charges or bin charges or to locate landfills or sewerage plants in certain areas. The only power that councillors still have is the power to make decisions on development plans and zoning matters. Even then, their hands are tied in many instances by the regulations and guidelines set by the Government at national level. If the Government was really serious about local authority reform, Deputies would be asked to consider more than a simple mathematical sum that will reduce the number of councillors. We would be asked to consider the delegation of power and to examine how councils are funded. The Bill does not do those things.

I have a serious problem with town councils as they stand. I do not mean any disrespect to any town council members when I say there is no question about the fact that they are an absolute joke. They are talking shops because they have no powers. There are based in certain areas but not in others without there being rhyme or reason to it. There are many town councils in areas outside Dublin, but there is just one town council in the Fingal County Council area. The area controlled by the town council in question is confined to the old part of Balbriggan, based on historic boundaries, which means all of the new population could not vote in town council elections. I would certainly be surprised if anybody tried to defend town councils are they currently constituted.

People at local level must be empowered through the empowerment of local councils. The best decisions are those made locally by those who live in the relevant area and who know what is best for it. If one takes a trip to any part of Europe, one will see that such an approach is being implemented and is working incredibly effectively. We are taking the opposite approach by moving in the direction of outsourcing, privatisation and the removal of powers and assets from local authorities lock, stock and barrel. We are stripping funding from councils at national level and replacing it with the proceeds of the hated home tax, the implementation of which they are having to grapple with. The money that is coming from this source will not undo the damage caused by the funding cuts.

I remind the House that the programme for Government states:

We will abolish the position of County Manager and replace it with that of Chief Executive, with a limited range of executive functions. The primary function of the Chief Executive will be to facilitate the implementation of democratically decided policy.

That sounds good. It would be great to strip power from county managers, but that will not happen under the Bill.

Under section 49, amendment to chapter 2 of part 14 (4) of the principal Act, "Any function which immediately before the date of the commencement of section 49of the Local Government Act 2013 ... shall, on and from that date, continue to ... be a function of the chief executive.". In other words, no change. We change the name of the county manager to chief executive but all of the decision-making rests with central government with the county and city managers and unelected quangos. That is not reform that is the continuation and acceleration of an undemocratic process. This is not even window-dressing, it is an insult and a serious lost opportunity. I am completely opposed to it as being nothing positive whatsoever.

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