James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I applaud Deputy Howlin for bringing forward this Bill and note that he has acknowledged that it was a mistake for his Government to abolish the town councils. I say this in a magnanimous and sincere way because it is important when one realises that something is wrong that one says so. I also recognise my colleague, Deputy Shane Cassells, who brought forward a similar Bill which passed Second Stage not long ago. It is a very important measure. We know that decisions are best made by those closest to them. The principle of subsidiarity has been recognised for millennia, since the first city charters. The famous Irish American politician Tip O'Neill spoke of all politics being local and they are. That is why it is so important that we recognise the role. There are anomalies, such as the poor maligned town of Ballybay - I am looking around the Chamber for any colleagues from Cavan-Monaghan and see Deputy Ó Caoláin is present - was an example of where there were 900 residents and nine councillors, so it had a ratio of one to 100 whereas the towns of Celbridge and Maynooth in my constituency have 20,000 residents and not a single councillor because it did not have a town council. It is important that if we re-establish them, and I hope that we do, it is done in such a way that it is uniform and balanced across the country.

We have heard much criticism of the former Deputy Phil Hogan. When the abolition took place, the cost savings amounted to €15 million over the 72 town councils abolished. It reminds me of the 132 Garda stations that were closed for a cost saving of €2 million. There was a general populism at the time, which we might put at the door of Fine Gael. It was a kind of anti-quango talk, of which the current Taoiseach was to the fore, calling for the abolition of various agencies, when all he was doing was abolishing public services. It was a populist, anti-expert kind of mood because the figures do not bear it out.

There was an idea a few years ago that Ireland was over-represented and had too many politicians but if we look at local government, France has one councillor for every 118 people, Denmark has one councillor for every 115 people and Ireland has one councillor for every 4,800, so we are actually at the opposite end of the scale. We are hugely under-represented in local government. That type of populism was unhelpful to local democracy.

I commend the Bill and hope it is enacted.

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