Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. As someone who was once a councillor, looking at the previous divisions, I echo the Senator's concerns. I keep in touch with councillors of all colours to hear their concerns. It would be hoped that all their concerns would be reflected in any review. I apologise for the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, who has budgetary matters to attend to this morning and who asked me to come in his place.

A Programme for a Partnership Government sets out a number of commitments relating to local government reform to ensure that local government funding, structures and responsibilities strengthen local democracy into the future. In particular, the programme includes a commitment to consider reducing the size of local electoral areas. In this context, the preparatory work in support of a review of local electoral areas is being advanced in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. It is intended that the review will be initiated shortly and will be completed in good time before the 2019 local elections.

In contrast to the position for Dáil constituencies, there are no constitutional or statutory requirements relating to the frequency of local electoral area reviews. Nevertheless, provision is made in section 23 of the Local Government Act 2001 for the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government to divide each county, city or city and county into local electoral areas and to amend those areas as may be considered necessary. However, changes to local electoral areas may only be carried out following the completion of a review by an independent boundary committee established under section 28 of the Local Government Act 1991. The Minister must have regard to the report of a boundary committee before deciding on whether to make an order amending local electoral areas. The terms of reference for a boundary committee are set by the Minister of the day. The most recent review of local electoral areas was carried out from November 2012 to May 2013 by a boundary committee in advance of the 2014 local elections. Local electoral area reviews were also carried out by boundary committees in 2008, 1998 and 1985. In broad terms, previous reviews of local electoral areas had regard to a wide range of factors, including the emerging needs of society, population change and demographics as well as the policy considerations of the day.

In accordance with the programme for a partnership Government, the Department is currently preparing a comprehensive report for Government and the Oireachtas on potential measures to boost local government leadership and accountability, which is important for any politician. This report will comprise a number of papers which will cover a broad range of issues on the local government reform agenda. The Minister is aware that concerns have been raised by a number of local authority members across different local authorities and by the Association of Irish Local Government relating to the territorial size and configuration of some of the local electoral areas specified following the last boundary review. The demands on councillors in territorially large local electoral areas are greater than those in more compact areas even when member-to-population ratios are broadly similar. This can arise due to distance, travel time and the difficulty in keeping abreast of local issues. A further concern which has been raised is that there has been a loss of focus on some large urban centres by virtue of their inclusion in territorially large local electoral areas. To address these concerns, it is proposed that the review of local electoral areas will be given priority ahead of the broader report to Government and the Oireachtas on local government reform. In this regard, it is anticipated that the review of local electoral areas will be initiated shortly and will be completed well in advance of the 2019 local elections, so the Senator and other Senators can carry that message back to county councillors in Cork and elsewhere. This will be done and councillors and local authorities will have plenty of advance notice.