Dáil debates

Tuesday, 27 June 2017

Local Government (Establishment of Town Councils Commission) Bill 2017: Second Stage [Private Members]

 

10:10 pm

Photo of James LawlessJames Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend my colleague, Deputy Cassells, on introducing this Bill to the House. He has been leading the charge on this for the past 12 months. As a proud Navan man, former member of Navan Town Council and former mayor of Navan, I know that this gap at the heart of local democracy is very dear to his heart, and indeed to the heart of all of us, on this side of the House at least.

The abolition of 744 councillors and 84 town councils in essence cast aside, at the stroke of a pen, millenia of democracy. It happened without a referendum because of course there is no reference to local government in the Constitution. Perhaps there should be. There was no public consultation of any kind. It was a system which went back to the first city and town charters and, indeed, to Irish Brehon law which had the concept of a taoiseach to represent local districts. It is a precept that has been recognised for millenia.

In European treaties, we hear about subsidiarity, where decisions are made by those closest to those who will be affected. As the great Irish-American politician Tip O'Neill put it, "all politics is local". Unfortunately, the move by the then Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Phil Hogan, was more Tammany Hall than House of Representatives. It was a populist move by the last Administration that somehow suggested that fewer politicians would mean better government. It fed into a "plague on all your houses" mentality - a form of anti-establishment mood fuelled by the establishment itself. It was a cynical exercise from the same stable that attempted a power grab in the Seanad and is now involved in an assault upon the Judiciary, to which we will return tomorrow.

As a former mayor of Naas, and as a representative of an area that once had a town council, I have seen the effect at first hand. Few will advocate, in the media or elsewhere, for the retention or advancement of politicians. I will cite one notable example, the late Councillor Willie Callaghan, who was also a former mayor of Naas and the president of the Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland at the time, bravely led the charge but he was ignored. His concerns fell on deaf ears, as did those of everyone else at the time. Politicians made for an easy target. Some were delighted with their abolition, but when the services also disappear, who laments that loss? Residents associations began to notice when the grant is no longer paid out, when the grass is no longer cut and when the Christmas lights fund is no longer in existence. These small local services, which were provided by a small dedicated body, draw focus to the gap that now exists. It was provided at very little cost. The councillors took a very modest stipend and any staff who were redirected were merely moved into the parent bodies.

As towns like Naas, Navan, Sligo and elsewhere now grapple with the multiple challenges of reducing footfall, lack of amenities and challenging retail environments and with the problems of congestion, urban sprawl, dereliction and unco-ordinated planning, who can argue that a town-specific body, with only that mandate, could be anything but positive? Rather than better democracy we have seen a further centralisation. Agencies such at the National Transport Authority now direct county councils on road projects. Ministerial directives have become commonplace in local area plans. In fact, the correction in that regard has been to the extreme on the other side.

In north Kildare, towns like Naas, Leixlip and Newbridge all had town councils, however the towns of Celbridge and Maynooth did not, despite having a population of almost 30,000 between them. There were certainly anomalies in the system, but the large municipal districts which replaced them are certainly also imperfect. Very large administrative areas, which are more than an hour's drive from one end to the other and lack cohesion or internal leaders are illogical units which poorly serve the towns that are represented.

At a time when politicians are rightly often decried for being aloof, cutting them off from the people they represent, and taking an axe to the lowest fundamental layer of local government seems to be nothing less than democratic sabotage. I ask the Government to consider this Bill seriously and earnestly. The Labour Party, which was a substantial part of the last Government, has seen the error of its ways. Indeed, Deputy Howlin has put on the record that it was one of that Administration's regrets. There is an opportunity to restore it and to right that wrong. I ask the Government to take that on board.

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