Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair. I am delighted to be here for this debate. I thank Senators Boyhan, Craughwell and Keogan for tabling the motion.I commend all Members in the House on their advocacy for both councils and local government. I acknowledge LAMA and the AILG for their advocacy. I have met with their representatives on many occasions. The work they do on behalf of their members is very important. I wish to inform Senators that the Government has agreed not to oppose this motion.

I propose to go through some general issues and then I will address all the queries raised by Members as much as I can. The motion references the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, CLRAE, report and the application of the European charter. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge Councillor Dermot Lacey, as everyone else has done. It is good to see him. We have dealt with him on the planning advisory forum. I attended the 45th session of the congress in Strasbourg on 25 October when the monitoring report was adopted. The defining recommendations helped to identify the areas in which we are achieving and lacking in our applications. The report's main findings included the observation that we have a centralised system of government, which many Members have commented on tonight. As a result, Irish local governments do not manage as great a share of public affairs or responsibility as maybe elsewhere in Europe. That was the view in the report.

In my address to the congress, I accepted that we have a relatively centralised system of government by comparison with other councils in European member states, but that it is an evolving process. That is the key point I want to make. While local authorities in Ireland may not have the same responsibility functions in health or education as other countries, functional areas currently under their responsibility include social housing and homelessness, land use and transport. I do not think it is fair to say councillors do not have powers because they do. The view expressed here tonight is that they should have more powers. They do phenomenal work.

The introduction of a directly elected mayor, beginning with Limerick City and County Council, will address a number of the recommendations made. I do not accept that it is window dressing. I am going through the report. Like everyone else here, I am a democrat. What was put to the people is in the Bill. It was put to the people that there would be a transfer of powers from the CEO to the mayor but certain roles, such as staffing, would remain with the CEO. That is for certainty for staff in the local authority as well. There must be practicalities here. It is balance. Individual matters come in, such as planning. The legislation will be reviewed in three years. The mayor will be responsible for bringing in the budget, which we spoke about. The mayor will now bring forward and interact with officials on the budget. It is a complete change. The mayor will bring forward development plans. Furthermore, we set up an implementation plan in the Bill I brought forward. We have for the first time given the mayor a statutory right to have access to a plenary session twice a year with Ministers. That is not at the behest of the Minister. I changed that. It is a plenary session where both the mayor and Government rank pari passufor meetings or further meetings at the behest of either party. I want to do this but it is all about balance.

I am also conscious that 52% of the people voted for it but 48% voted against it. It was not universal. The public themselves are sceptical. In both counties Waterford and Cork, it was voted down. We cannot live with an abstract theory on directly elected mayors. We have to look at the practicalities of how it will work. I set up an implementation plan whereby the mayor will be chairing a Project 2040 board with a statutory right to bring in all the authorities that are involved, including the CEO of Clare County Council. I brought in a simple measure whereby the mayor can bring all the stakeholders in Limerick together and has a statutory right to do so. These are far-reaching changes. I brought in that the mayor would specifically chair the transportation subcommittee within Project 2040.

Once again, however, it is hugely important that we get this right. If we look at the UK, Bristol and Liverpool have both reversed their decisions to have directly elected mayors. Why? Because the powers were too broad initially. I want to get to the same point as everyone else where we have devolved local government, but we must get it right. I am too practical for that. We have all been politicians for many years at local and national level. At times, I find there is too much talk in the abstract. We have to talk about how it will work in practice. I suggest that Members read the Bill again. It is a first step. Members should never forget that we are dealing with an electorate and we want the directly elected mayor system to work.

Points have been made about the Planning and Development Bill 2023. I will speak about the change in the timeframe where what was a six-year development plan has now gone to being a ten-year one with a five-year review. Members will have a large part to play. That will be a significant review. What is also being missed is that Members can bring forward variations to that plan at any stage. The national planning statements are being brought forward to provide consistency in terms of the interpretation of plans, even within local authorities. We want a system in which there is certainty in the planning system, clarity about what happens and consistency. Councillors have a key role to play there.

We intend that councillors will be consulted on the national planning statements. Obviously, that Bill will be coming forward in all Houses. It is in the Dáil at the moment and will then move to Committee Stage. It will likewise come to the Seanad. We very much value the input from councillors. The Part 8 process is time limited to the end of December in terms of developments getting under way before then under Part 8. This is not a long-term measure. This is a measure we are looking at and I take Senator Cummins's point in that regard. We are looking at ways to expedite the process, but it is time limited. The chief executive is required to bring it before the Members for their observations in whatever decision they make.

The Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023 is obviously not within my remit but it is something on which I hear the views of Members. I do not think it has been reached today, but there is an amendment tabled to provide certainty. Amendment No. 84 proposes to insert the following:

Regulations under subsection (1)shall not, insofar as they make provision for the election of a chairperson and vice-chairperson of a safety partnership, make provision that precludes the election of members of local authorities as such a chairperson or vice-chairperson.

Members will obviously have their deliberations with the Minister for Justice, but that is in there.

This issue was not really specifically referenced but, obviously, I wanted to get clarity on the Higher Education Authority Act 2022. There is a view that the appointment of members to the board is now based on the competencies of employees to ensure good governance practice. It is important to state that councillors are not precluded from being appointed; far from it.

I will go through what has happened since July 2021. The representation allowance has increased to €28,000, which is an increase of more than €9,000. We brought in the maternity benefit. I brought in regulations in more recent times to ensure that if female councillors go on maternity leave and do not wish to take that length of time, they can continue as a councillor and bring in someone to work part-time with them. That is in place. Once again, for me, it is very simple. It is to give female councillors the choice and that is something I wanted to bring in.

There is a security allowance of €2,500.It is worth pointing out that councillors are currently allowed under the LRA allowance to claim for security. I did not touch that. I left that as it was. However, I brought in a sister scheme for Oireachtas Members. People cannot claim under both schemes. They can claim under the LRA and claim up to 100%. That is for expenses of €5,160 or €4,200 vouched. That is a choice, once again, for councillors.

Going through the issues that were raised, Senator Keogan made a couple of points. She said the Government should consult councillors on the national planning statements. Judicial review is limited. When it comes to one, it would be discussed in great depth. What the planning Bill is looking to do is streamline the planning process. Judicial review should be a measure of last resort. We want most planning applications to still be decided at local authority level, as they are. If they go to appeal, we put in time-limited, statutory deadline dates with An Bord Pleanála. If a case goes to judicial review, we want to ensure two things. First, if it is something that is going for planning permission, is appealed and granted by An Bord Pleanála, the time it is held in judicial review will be added on to the planning permission. Second, we are bringing in an environmental legal cost administrative support scheme to ensure people can take that. We have taken away the application for leave because this is all about a streamlined planning process and it is ultimately about getting houses built. That applies to large-scale projects as well.

I have dealt with the joint policing committees. We have dealt with Part 8. Reference was made to judicial review. I have dealt with the ten-year plan. Going to Senator Craughwell-----