Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

As the advancement of local government and the need to take centralised power from the Custom House is something about which I am passionate, I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on this subject this afternoon. Indeed, I introduced a Bill on behalf of Fianna Fáil on the re-establishment of town councils last year, which was brought through Second Stage and committee scrutiny before Christmas, after which the Government tried to suffocate it with a money message. However, we will persevere.

Fianna Fáil is passionate about making sure that we can have an enhanced system of local democracy, because the model of the municipal district simply does not deliver that in a truly meaningful way. It has conspired against our urban centres and means they are not provided with the powers to improve the lives of the people living in them. We flagged this issue quite clearly, and indeed were joined in chambers across Ireland by members from other parties who shared our view. We said clearly that if key powers, including budgeting and planning powers, were taken from local towns, the ability to positively impact the way these towns are governed would be neutered. Each town is unique. Each has its own challenges and its own strengths. Accordingly, the ability for each town to set different commercial rates, rather than having one rate per county, was always helpful in bad economic times when councillors could use their discretion and judgment to help businesses survive. Equally, in terms of the passing of town plans, councillors in a particular urban centre knew the area best and could produce stronger plans.

I spent 17 years as a councillor at town and county level, and our ability to get things done was far more effective at town council level, where we ran budget surpluses, had the powers to raise our own finance, take bank loans and pursue projects for the people of my town, Navan. These plans were not subjected to a vote or a debate at county council level, where there was an inherently anti-town attitude from many members from other geographical areas. We were already living in an over-centralised and under-represented system before the abolition of town councils, but it got worse after those councils were abolished. We once had 1,627 elected councillors in Ireland. It has been slashed to 950 in the name of reform. Lest anyone think we had too many councillors before this, let us reflect on the hard facts.

The average population per councillor in Ireland used to be 2,815 and even that was the highest in the EU in 2015, with the UK in second place. We now have one councillor for every 4,838 persons, effectively 5,000. Let us compare that to the rest of Europe. In France, there is one councillor for every 118 persons. France has 36,500 councillors. In fact, across Europe the average of number of people per councillor is in the hundreds, yet here we have one for every 5,000. Those issues might have gotten lost for the ordinary person in the street, but when ordinary people saw the impact hit home as their towns formed part of larger urban boundaries, in some cases the size of Dáil constituencies, the net impact was realised. As I said, the crucial issue of finance then kicked in and the revenue which had been raised in towns from commercial rates or parking charges was now pooled into a county council budget. Our towns have suffered as a result.

Politically, it has to be said that it was the Labour Party which supported Fine Gael in government in implementing this disaster. It was the assassination of our democracy and it was shameful. I heard Deputy Brendan Howlin in the Chamber earlier today accusing Fianna Fáil of buying popularity at election time, yet here we are debating the re-establishment of a much-needed layer of local government because Deputy Howlin and the Labour Party went along with a so-called "populist" move, culling 1,000 councillors in the name of reform to try to make it look to the public that they were doing something positive. It was unforgivable because it centralised more power. More devastatingly, it crippled the ability of small and large towns to run their own shows, to be free of the shackles of government and to progress their own plans. It took away their ability to show how imagination could create urban spaces that are a pleasure to work and live in.

I read the email that Deputy Howlin sent around last week, with the mea culpa story about what they had done. It was a like a fox going into a henhouse. Having savaged all the chickens, he meets the farmer on the way out, and with a shotgun at his head says "Mea culpa". That is Deputy Howlin. Here he is today, the Fantastic Mr. Fox, with feathers coming out of his mouth as he begs forgiveness for culling so many effective councils that represented the beating heart of our towns.

I served on Navan Town Council and was honoured to have been mayor of my town on two occasions. We achieved a hell of a lot. Another town I know very well is Drogheda, located close to us, where the local government proudly held borough council status. That town has felt the brunt of this decision very badly. It is a town with a very proud Labour Party tradition, where I attended many meetings of the National Union of Journalists, NUJ, in the local union hall.

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