Brian Ó Domhnaill (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Tráthnóna, is mian liom an rún i dtaca leis an mBille rialtas áitiúil atá ag dul trí Tithe an Oireachtais faoi láthair a phlé, mar go bhfuil an Bille seo ag teacht in am ina bhuil go leor ceisteanna á ardú, chan amháin sa tír seo ach ag leibhéal na hEorpa. Mar shampla, since 2007 the Council of Europe has consistently warned of a general shift towards greater centralisation in Europe and Ireland. The Local Government Bill 2013 is nothing to do with reform but is a drastic attempt simply and naively to reduce overall Government expenditure. By definition "reform" should mean improvement or changing with the modern era but the abolition of town councils and democracy in the Bill is nothing to do with reform. On 31 October 2013 the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe recommended that the Irish authorities revise the Local Government Bill to ensure the subsidiarity principle is better enshrined and protected. It stated that the importance of this (subsidiarity) principle is not adequately reflected in the local government reform legislation. It further encouraged the Government to revise the legislation to ensure the subsidiarity principle is better enshrined and protected in law and to promote this crucial principle and practice in Irish public administration.

The principle of subsidiarity is fundamental to the functioning of the EU, specifically to European decision making, in particular the principle determines when the EU is competent to legislate and contribute to decisions being taken as closely as possible to the citizen, particularly at town council level. The principle of subsidiarity is established across the EU, including in Ireland, under Article 5 of the treaty on the European Union. It appears alongside two other principles that are also considered essential to European decision making, namely conferral and proportionality.

The Irish people overwhelmingly passed a referendum in 1999 which gave recognition for the first time in Irish law to local government structures being recognised in the Constitution, under Article 28A. That created a legitimate expectation that local government structured as it was at the time would continue to be voted on every five years in town and county council elections. The doctrine of legitimate expectation regarding town councils is being eradicated under the proposed legislation coming forward under the Local Government Bill without any consultation whatsoever by the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and the Minister, Deputy Hogan.

I am not saying this. Fine Gael town councillors up and down the country are saying it. Last week a prominent Fine Gael county councillor in Mayo spoke on this issue locally and nationally. The members of Westport Town Council, controlled by Fine Gael, have written a very comprehensive document on this issue and I salute them for the work they have done in consultation with Fianna Fáil councillors. I mention Fine Gael councillors in particular because a Fine Gael-led Government is introducing this abolition Bill. The Minister of State, Deputy McGinley, is not responsible for this area but I call on the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan and the Government to park or suspend this legislation, listen to councillors up and down the country, particularly town councillors who represent the citizen at the closest possible level. A number of town councillors have spoken publicly on this.

I also call on the Government to listen to the recommendation from the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe and its rapporteurs who are concerned that consultation with local authorities and their associates has not occurred in this country. They also call for the legislation to be suspended or parked until adequate consultation happen with each town council.

I call for the Bill to parked or suspended, that 2014 be used as local government consultation year, not local government abolition year. Let us use it to talk to the people around the country about local government. When one examines it across Europe it is very interesting. We will put ourselves at the top of the pile regarding the average population per local authority. In France there is a local authority for every 1,500 people. In Germany there is one for every 6,500. We will move to the top of the pile and be less democratic than all the other OECD countries and will have one local authority for every 139,800 people.

We are going to make this the least democratic country in the OECD. What we are actually doing is following the UK example. The State broke with the Britain and we established our own local government structures under Michael Collins. We are now disenfranchising and going back to the same principle of local government that has evolved in the North of Ireland and throughout the rest of the United Kingdom. This is wrong because there has been no consultation. I am not the one who is saying this; I am only conveying the message on behalf of town councillors throughout the country. I ask the Minister of State whether he agrees that there needs to be more consultation and that the Bill should be parked.