John Cummins (Waterford, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I propose to take Question Nos. 15 and 111 together.

I thank the Deputy for his interest in this matter. Having served in local government for 11 years, I value the role of our councillors and of local democracy. This specific commitment is contained in the programme for Government. I have worked extensively on this since taking up this role a number of weeks ago. Both the Minister, Deputy Browne, and I have engaged with the Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, and the Local Authorities Members Association, LAMA, the representative bodies for local councillors, in this regard.

As the Deputy rightly pointed out, the Local Government Reform Act 2014 dissolved 80 town councils, which represented just 14% of the population. The previous town council system also led to a duplication of administrative and electoral terms. Instead, the Act saw the introduction of 95 municipal districts, representing 100% of the population, in 25 of the 31 local authority areas at sub-county level, while area committees operate in Cork, Dublin and Galway, and in metropolitan areas within the Limerick and Waterford areas.

We have not costed the re-establishment of town councils. We are finalising the terms of reference for the task force at present and hope to be able to bring them to Government shortly.

See this speech in context