Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

There is a growing realisation that the passing of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 was an unmitigated disaster for local government and accountability. The Act wasted a valuable opportunity to effect real change. It did bring about change, but that change was a negative one. Towns have been left behind, abandoned and neglected since their councils, whether they were town or borough councils, were abolished.

My home town of Drogheda is the largest town in Ireland. The Fine Gael and Labour parties stripped Drogheda of its borough council status. They stripped Drogheda of its town clerk. They stripped Drogheda of all local authority departments bar one. They stripped Drogheda of any resemblance of local power that it had. That damage has been replicated in 80 towns across the State.

Municipal districts and their meetings are now a toothless tiger. They do not even have a budget. The Government handed over power to unelected officials, who in some cases have shown no enthusiasm, vision, foresight, forward planning or even interest. They have even told elected representatives that they - the unelected officials - would decide what happens, if it happens, what will be done locally and what will not be done. The Fine Gael and Labour parties presided over that and defended the decimation and abolition of 80 town and borough councils right across the State.

One could ask what it was all for. The Department claimed in a statement prior to the introduction of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 that savings of €15 million to €20 million per year would be achieved through the abolition of town councils. I requested information in a parliamentary question on the annual savings achieved each year since the introduction of the Act in 2014. I sought the relevant, quantified data relating to those savings, in tabular form, but the Department refused to give them. Not only has the Government stripped town and borough councils of any resemblance of power and local democracy they might have had, but it also refuses to publish the savings it claimed would be made. The Fine Gael and Labour parties have made a complete hames of local government structures and they are directly responsible for that.

This Bill could easily allow for a wider range of topics for review by the proposed commission. For example, it could carry out a thorough review of the powers afforded to local authorities and their funding streams, and the obvious need to enhance and increase them both. Rather than merely assessing the need for town councils, it is important that a wider view is taken to ensure that local government structures are fit for purpose across the State. Currently, they are not and both the Fine Gael and Labour parties have brought that about.

It would be worth providing for gender balance in the Bill when choosing members of the commission. It goes without saying that we need to ensure the appointees would be suitably qualified. The thrust of the Bill is correct; we should establish this commission. I hope that when, or if, the Bill reaches Committee Stage we could table amendments such as the ones I have outlined.

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