Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There are two important rules that should determine the direction of local government. First, decisions and the decision-makers should be as close as possible to the citizens they affect. The closer they are, the better the decision. This is because people are offered an opportunity to become the decision-makers and also ensures decision-makers are accessible to citizens. This close proximity allows for far better oversight by the citizens. Conversely, if one distances the decisions from citizens, this has the affect of making the decisions unrepresentative and lacks necessary oversight. We see this happening all the time when citizens become frustrated and disengage from the political process.

The second rule is that the deeper the democracy, the better for the quality of the decision. When one reduces the number of representatives in a democracy, this makes the democracy shallower and reduces the voice of the citizen. The EU as currently constituted is the great dysfunctional example of this. This Bill breaks both rules. It creates a distance between the citizen and the decision and reduces the voice of the decision-maker.

The wholesale destruction of the town council model is a mistake. Critical to large cities and towns in the context of spatial development are specific resources and a political centre of gravity. They need a council. The absence of a city council in certain areas and town councils in larger towns will create a significant challenge for those areas in competing against larger resource-rich and strategy-rich cities. The difference is clear in my county. While there is a town council in Navan, there is none in Ashbourne, which is the second largest town in the county. Strategic development, resources and funds have historically gone to Navan, with none going to towns such as Ashbourne.

That money needs to be saved is not contested. I believe representation levels should remain but that councillors' salaries and expenses should be significantly reduced.

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