Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is nothing wrong with them at all. I said the British could not govern us because the county was too long and unwieldy. There is nothing at all wrong with them but, as I said, it is not workable because the county is too big.

The officials and the councillors are travelling up and down at enormous expense and there are no savings. That is what is going on. The local authority is now is too big. They also must have two big constituencies, which are nearly half the size of a Dáil constituency that it was at one time. It is just not functioning and the Minister knows that. The Government stripped the powers and it insulted them then, as I said, with lucky-bag chains of office. It gave them token reports about developments for employment. They have no powers. Our all-famous powerful CEO is king and they have workshops for everything. When I was a member of the council, we had a workshop once a year before the budget meeting. Now there are workshops for everything behind closed doors and the press are locked out of the proceedings. It is dictatorship. The Government removed the democratic right of the people to have people represent them and it banished them all. It acted as it did with so many other matters. The Government refused to take down the HSE. It took the power away from the people and locked them out as the CEO, Mr. MacGrath, is locking the people out of Clonmel cemetery to even visit their dead. There are former mayors and former Teachtaí Dála buried inside there. People who are unwell to go in were allowed drive in but the powers of health and safety were invoked to take more reserved functions from the members. It is dictatorship. It was by the former Minister, Mr. Hogan, and is by our CEO, Mr. MacGrath. The sooner something is done about it the better and give some vestige of power back to the members.

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