Paul Bradford (Independent) | Oireachtas source

While I did not hear Senator Landy's observation on town councils and local government, I heard Senator Wilson's intervention. Following reported comments at the Labour Party conference, or perhaps on the margins of the conference, by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Brendan Howlin, and the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, that there was a possibility that town councils would be reintroduced, I had a Commencement debate here on 5 March. Although the Minister, Deputy Alan Kelly, was unable to attend, the Minister of State, Deputy Tom Hayes, who replied on his behalf, made it very clear that there are no plans in place to reverse the decision to abolish town councils. His script indicated that a review might be put in place, and I would welcome such a review. However, we would not want to put the cart before the horse. All of those here who have worked very closely with local authorities at county and sub-county level recognise that the new structures are posing major challenges, some of which cannot be met, because some of the areas are so big that the concept of "local" has been removed from local government. I ask the Minister to establish the review at the earliest possible date. No Minister or Government should be afraid to concede that it probably was a mistake to abolish the town councils in the format in which it happened.

The Leader might facilitate a debate here on local government structures. While local government can very much be the driving force in the regeneration of our towns and villages in rural Ireland, the structures, as newly constituted, may not be ideal. While I hear from some councils that the municipal districts are working, other councillors are serving municipal districts 40 to 80 miles long, and the concept of local representation has disappeared. The Leas-Chathaoirleach knows this from his area, west Cork. I would like to discuss local government structures and see if they need tweaking. They will need major reform. In towns where urban councils had worked well, the local population is already beginning to notice the difference. Although some of the town councils did not cover themselves in glory, others worked very effectively and the baby has been thrown out with the bath water. Although we are only 12 months from the local elections, it is time to examine how we can plan for the best future for local government.