Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on this very important Bill and I commend Deputy Shane Cassells on bringing this forward. As Minister, Phil Hogan introduced the Local Government Reform Act 2014. This Act did not offer any reform to the local government system in Ireland. Instead it abolished 80 town and borough councils, transferring their functions to the city and county councils, putting further stress on an already cramped system.

This Bill to allow the local government commission to carry out a review of the establishment and boundaries of a town council system is certainly most welcome. In 2014, the then Minister, Phil Hogan, attacked Irish democracy and got full support from his own political party and coalition partners to destroy communities or, as some people said, to destroy the bottom-up approach. Community voluntary forums were disbanded. Why? The reason was they were community driven, helping the local communities they represented. The Irish success story across Europe, the Leader groups, were dismantled. Why? The reason was they were community driven, delivering to their communities and now the Leader programme is nothing short of a shambles. Two town councils were eradicated. Why? The reason was local democracy and the then Minister, Phil Hogan, and his coalition Government felt they had to be got rid of. Cork community councils, which do such great work in local communities, are lucky to have their independence because without it Phil Hogan would have got his claws into them too.

On June 15 I left the Dáil to attend the election of the mayor in Clonakilty. John Loughnane was elected to succeed Anthony McDermott, who had attended over 200 events in the past 12 months on behalf of the people of Clonakilty. Along with Colette Toomey, Gretta O'Donovan and Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin, they have defied Phil Hogan's orders and have continued Clonakilty's community mayor. They meet monthly on a voluntary basis for the good of their community and surroundings. Such communities, including communities in Skibbereen, Bantry and Bandon, need to have their town councils reinstated immediately to give their communities a chance to get their feet back on the ground and undo the destruction caused in 2014.

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