Fiach MacConghail (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I regret to say that today, yet again, the Government, which had a strong mandate for political reform, has come up short.

The challenge with this Bill is whether it will lead to a major increase in trust and confidence between our citizens and politics. Has the Minister devolved any real political power or decentralised essential services? Will this Bill stand as the radical reform measure that will represent the mandate of the Coalition Government?

The argument must be made for strong local government. It was coherently argued for as recently as October 2012 in the Minister's Putting People First programme.

Local government reform should have two general goals, namely, to enhance the democratic legitimacy and accountability of local government while also improving the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery. In short, it is about trust and effectiveness. There are no strict comparisons or answers as to the ideal number of councillors per head of population; it is more complex than that.

In theory, what the Minister is proposing in this Bill could work. Abolishing town councils and replacing them with municipal districts as a basic unit of local democracy could work well if it is delivered in an efficient way which provides both representation and trust. My concern, however, is that there is an elephant in the room when it comes to local government in that the Minister is not budging on county boundaries as the key cornerstone of local democracy. He was both eloquent and correct in his argument for amalgamating councils, with particular reference to Cashel. However, there are many towns whose hinterland is in another county. The Minister stepped away from the radical reform that would have made this initiative more efficient and imaginative. The sub-county municipal district is a move in the right direction, but it could be vastly improved if county boundaries were replaced with administrative regions. The main problem is the decision to stick with the counties as they exist. To be cost effective, efficient and democratic, our system of local government deserves a more imaginative and radical realignment of administrative boundaries. One-size-fits-all reform does not work, and that is the main reason for my disappointment in this Bill. Creating a sub-county municipal district and a regional assembly, with the county council sandwiched in between, creates a camel, that is, a horse designed by a committee. Local government reform by committee is surely the least palatable choice.

We certainly should seek to reduce costs and facilitate greater efficiencies. If that requires reducing the number of councillors, then it should be done. However, reducing the number of councillors will not necessarily, on its own, increase the connectedness or closeness between citizens and government. As such, this reform Bill does not address the weakness in our local government system. While Putting People First aspires to a greater devolution of duties to local government and lays out a new code for local government in the area of social and economic development, the range of functions for which local government is responsible will remain limited under this so-called reform initiative. There is no devolution of power from central to local government. Power and influence are effected by the range of functions for which local government is responsible, the relationship between central and local government and the financial autonomy of local government. Local government in Ireland has a narrow range of functions when compared with other European countries. I see nothing in the Bill that represents a radical reform whereby central government will devolve substantial functions to the local. The Minister is seeking to retain the power, and that is enshrined in the Bill.

The primary function of local councils is to deliver services as an agent of central government. There no real opportunity under these provisions for local authorities to set policy autonomously, raise taxes for the provision of services locally or build a unique social contract between citizens and government at a municipal level. Instead, the Bill reins in and reaffirms the primacy of the Cabinet in its oversight of the basic unit of democracy in this State. The Minister of State, Deputy Fergus O'Dowd, will agree that there is something radical and imaginative in the following vision:

Local democracy is an essential component of a robust system of representative democracy...Local government involves more than service delivery. Democratic representation and oversight are important elements and local political leadership and oversight can bring greater accountability and responsiveness to local needs than is likely in the case of bodies that operate solely as an agent of centralised organisations.

That, in fact, is an extract from Putting People First. The document goes on to state: "A system of local government that is largely representational and lacking significant functions and responsibilities will, however, be hollow...". In other words, local government must have substantial functions and responsibilities. The difficulty is that the Bill does not deliver that change.

As recently as this year, the Government contradicted its own stated intentions in Putting People First by removing responsibility for the public water supply from local government. This followed on from the changes to the administration of vocational education and the disastrous overhaul of the education grant system. My point is to do with value and consistency. Do we believe in the reform and strengthening of local government? There is no halfway house in this regard, but the legislation before us today simply does not tackle the issue.

This Bill should be called the Local Government (Minor Amendments) Bill 2013. It is an Irish solution to an Irish problem.

When I was in America in 2004, I spent some time in local areas in South Carolina, where I saw how the concept of raising and paying local taxes worked. Local communities at a micro level were able to vote a budget for the local school, community centre and local roads. Raising and paying taxes at local level not only enhance democracy and effectiveness, but constitute real radical reform, and I see nothing of that in this Bill. Dr. Proinsias Breathnach of National University of Ireland, NUI, Maynooth, stated recently in a blog:

Locally-provided public services should also be locally funded as much as possible, as this creates a clear link for citizens between the taxes they pay and the services they get in return. This in turn maximises accountability on the part of local authorities for efficient and effective social service delivery.

I will raise other issues on Committee and Report Stages, such as the introduction of the CEO, regional assemblies and the inherent and increased power the Minister has to provide direction at all levels of local government. To say this is a major reform Bill is an abuse of the English language.