Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and share the view that he is a reformer who, as someone who came from the local authority system, knows the various structures intimately. However, even a cursory reading of the excellent briefing document prepared by the Oireachtas Library and Research Service would give pause for thought and, I am sure, some concern on the part of the Minister. It conducted a detailed analysis of the reform proposals of this and previous Governments and found:

Irish local government is considered to be weak on all variables in spite of reforms implemented in the 1990s. Irish local government is characterised by unequal representation and inconsistent structures that reduce its democratic legitimacy. Further, it is dominated by central government, has few financial resources, a limited range of functions, and elected councillors dominated by the non-elected manager.

The Minister has indicated that he intends to appoint chief executive officers without outlining the duties such a role would comprise or, more important, the balance of power between elected representatives and CEOs. On the question of whether local government will become more democratic, the document states:

When the new municipal districts are taken as the unit of local government, the level of representation compares poorly to other countries. While Ireland would appear to compare favourably with Denmark, greater numbers of councillors means that the ratio of population to councillor is 1:1,200 in Denmark compared with 1:4,212 at best in Ireland. Further, the 98 Danish municipal councils are powerful in terms of functions and financial autonomy.

These figures speak for themselves. The document continues:

With the exception of the expansion of its role in economic and community development, its remit will remain broadly the same. Given the Government?s recent establishment of Water Ireland, it is possible to argue that the pattern of centralisation is continuing.

In this context I wish to reflect the serious and legitimate concerns of those who represent the local development companies, LDCs. The Minister noted that the sub-county structure has gone under the radar, but this issue has done likewise. He will be aware that the storm clouds are gathering in this regard and the representative groups will be coming here to lobby on the issue tomorrow. The representative groups argue that without guaranteed core funding from Leader and the local and community development programme, it is likely that many LDCs will be forced to close, with the result that the State will lose a national infrastructure that can deliver a range of labour market and enterprise programmes at a low cost. LDCs have more than 20 years of experience in addressing disadvantage, poverty and social exclusion. The expertise built up in local development programme design and delivery, as well as the considerable time and effort invested by voluntary chairpersons, will be lost. The groups propose that the new socio-economic committees should co-ordinate local development but should not be involved in programme management or delivery. This is not a question of local councillors getting more power. As Senator Landy pointed out, councillors already sit on local development companies. With due respect, I suggest this is going to result in a takeover by the permanent government to which Senator Barrett referred. It is only waiting to get its hands on the Leader money. It has been noted that the European Court of Auditors is looking with concern at the Minister's proposals in this regard.