Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Garvey for raising a very important issue and a very important point. I was a member of Roscommon County Council from 1999 to 2003, before the dual mandate ended. The dual mandate change had a purpose because we were in Dublin trying to be at all of the various meetings, from the county enterprise board to the vocational education committee, VEC, to the regional authorities, and it simply was not sustainable. However, the current system does lose that kind of work on the ground, which is where the local authority members are very important. They get elected by the community and they work with all of the various communities.

The Senator rightly referred to the PPN. I did not realise the nature of the responsibilities and the work schedule. If people are elected to the local authority, they have a responsibility and, while I will not call it power, they have a workload to deliver for their community but also for the county and the country. Senator Garvey also talked about the live streaming of council meetings, which some councils do, and it is open and transparent.

The “RTÉ Investigates” programme was critical of the level of accountability and transparency within the local government system, citing a number of specific cases in local authorities to back up its claims. It is somewhat ironic that, in doing so, RTÉ relied to a significant extent on the work and findings of the Local Government Audit Service, LGAS. In fact, the majority of the cases highlighted in the programme were taken from LGAS audit reports, which are published annually, and management letters issued to local authorities in the course of the annual audit. The reporting of these audit issues illustrates the positive impact the LGAS has on systems and procedures in local authorities.

The programme also highlighted instances where disciplinary proceedings were pursued by local authorities against members of staff and reports referred to An Garda Síochána for investigation. It is correct that details of such cases would not be put in the public domain for reasons of natural justice, but also in case doing so would prejudice the Garda investigation.

It is important to bear in mind that local authorities are entirely independent corporate entities. They have a constitutional basis, and Article 28A of the Constitution recognises the role of local government in providing a forum for the democratic representation of communities and in exercising and performing powers conferred by law. Like the board of directors of a public company, an elected council’s key role is the governance and oversight of their local authority, including in regard to audit practices and holding the chief executive and his or her officials to account. These functions are set down in law. Elected councils and councillors take this oversight and governance role very seriously. The Association of Irish Local Government, AILG, and local authorities work hard to ensure that councillors are equipped and trained to fulfil this vital role. Some of the cases highlighted by RTÉ were debated and agreed by majority resolution of the elected council. In those cases, this was the appropriate forum for those issues to be addressed.

We should recognise that the Local Government Reform Act 2014 introduced significant improvements in local government accountability arrangements and further strengthened governance in local authorities. The Act reinforced the operation of audit committees in local authorities and established the National Oversight and Audit Commission, NOAC. Audit committees review financial and budgetary reporting practices and procedures within the local authority. They also review any audited financial statement, auditor’s report or auditor’s special report in regard to the local authority and assess actions taken by the chief executive in response. The NOAC is the national independent oversight body for the local government sector. The NOAC’s functions cover all local authority activities and involve the scrutiny of performance generally and financial performance specifically, as well as supporting best practice. Both the NOAC and the Local Government Audit Service have had periodic attendance at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage.