Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I will share time with Deputies Danny Healy-Rae, Michael Healy-Rae and Michael Collins. I support this Bill and compliment the Deputy from Meath on bringing it forward. Town councils were abolished by big Phil the enforcer, the Minister at the time, Phil Hogan, and Fianna Fáil did not oppose it then. I tried to call a vote and I got FLAME, the former local authority members in Ireland, to organise a press conference in 2015 on the urgent need for a judicial review of the legality of the Act, which led to the eradication of 80 town and borough councils throughout the country. Recent statements from Government sources that the merger of Cork County Council would not go ahead are solo runs. We went to the High Court and I compliment the former councillor, Niall Dennehy, who was the leader of that group. I served a summons on the then Minister, Phil Hogan, in the restaurant here when he was having beverages.

It was nothing short of an attack on local democracy. They called it better local government but it was bitter local government. Deputy Penrose is right to say the town councils played a huge role in holding county managers and their secretaries to account. Now there are county managers, six or seven directors of services and a plethora of engineers. One would not know who was in charge of anything. It is worse. The document was called Putting People First but it put people last and had no respect for ordinary members, town council members or councils. The council areas, so-called municipal districts, are very big and I heard a Fine Gael councillor lamenting the state of affairs after three years. It takes away democracy from local people. Many of those on town councils worked on a voluntary basis, for free or for a pittance. They are not half well enough paid but they were at the beck and call of everybody, day and night. They gave huge service and knew what was needed in their areas, such as when things were going wrong.

We had a serious debate on this in the talks on a programme for Government but the Government paid lip-service to us. We need local democracy to be restored. The Government got a wallop and the former Taoiseach got his kick from the electorate but it is not listening to the electorate and denying it what it deserves. I ask the Government to pay heed to this Bill and for all Members to work together to bring back some degree of local democracy.

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