Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State to the House.

We need genuine reform of local government and the power structure in Irish politics. Governance and decision-making should occur as close to the people as possible, and they should be carried out by people elected by the people. The current management structure was introduced in 1940. Consistently, for decade after decade following partition, we followed a colonial policy of centralisation. Looking at it today, where do we find ourselves? We have one of the most centralised political systems in Europe and our council buildings are hollowed-out shells in which there is no governance of water or waste, never mind what other European countries have in terms of healthcare. Town councils were abolished in 2014. The list goes on. Responsibility for water and waste was taken away from local authorities.

Bin collection was once a core service provided by councils, but it has now been moulded into a very lucrative private industry, run by profiteers and with customers paying through the nose for it. Waste collection should be back under the control of local councils. We also need to end the side-by-side waste collection system, which is clogging up streets and neighbourhoods, and increase the number of recycling centres and the range of items accepted. Ireland is the only State in Europe with a completely privatised waste collection service, and that has led to considerable illegal dumping.

We have one of the most centralised systems of politics in Europe. In recent years, Ministers have grabbed power from local authorities, often to stifle opposition and scrutiny of their plans. Sinn Féin has consistently resisted efforts to take power away from councillors. The Land Development Agency legislation, which has been raised today, removed councillor oversight of the transfer of public land to the agency. It is truly incredible that a Minister responsible for local government would draft a Bill seeking to minimise the impact of members of local authorities. That happened after elected members of local authorities robustly opposed the forcing of local authorities to use public land for unaffordable private housing. Councillors with local knowledge and expertise clearly showed there was a better way to deliver genuinely affordable homes. All of this is consistent with what I have been saying about how we centralise power each and every decade.I do not believe the Government parties when they talk a big game about their support for local authorities because the receipts are there for everyone to see in the centralisation of power decade after decade.

On behalf of Sinn Féin, I welcome today's motion. Local government has a fundamental role to play not only in our democracy but also in the day-to-day life of our communities. As a former councillor and mayor of South Dublin County Council, I am well aware of the importance of local government. Some of the work we did, however, would not be possible today. In just the past 12 to 19 months alone, the weakening of local government has seen removal of the section 183 reserved function for the disposal of council-owned land in respect of the Land Development Agency, removal of the Part 8 planning reserved function for a council's own housing developments, and removal of councillors from governing authorities of universities under the Higher Education Authority Act 2022. Furthermore, the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023 will see the removal of councillors from their role on the joint policing committees, which will be replaced by safety partnerships. As a former councillor, the latter development is of particular concern to me.

As I said, Sinn Féin welcomes the motion. We share the concerns raised by the motion and by members of the AILG and call on the Government to engage with the AILG to address those concerns as a matter of urgency. I also call on the Government to support the amendments to the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023 that Sinn Féin will move on Report Stage to address issues relating specifically to the safety partnerships.