Mark Duffy (Fine Gael)

I compliment the Cathaoirleach on his work in this area. In the previous Seanad, we had an opportunity to contribute to the work on the task force, for which I thank him. I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for his continued efforts on local government. I wish him well and look forward to supporting his efforts in the term ahead.

I was in the privileged position to work on behalf of my community in the very difficult job of councillor in Mayo County Council. There are many highs and lows to being a councillor, as most of us have experienced. Senator Murphy noted that councillors have a lot of responsibility, and although they sometimes get all the kudos, they mostly get all the blame, but, in effect, they have very little power to change things and be as impactful as they would like to be in their locality. They are the touchpoint and interface with democracy in every local community. We in this House might be in a bubble sometimes but councillors work in their communities every day and are visible and accessible to people. They often go over and beyond in their contribution to their community and society through their volunteerism.

A total of 8% of public expenditure goes on local government. This contrasts with the countries at the top of the chart identified by the OECD, such as Denmark, where the figure is 40%. A paltry contribution is made to local authorities to fund services where there is local autonomy. We still come up with centralised programmes and funds that are imposed in a top-down manner on local authorities with a matched-funding requirement of 10%, 15% or 20%. This puts enormous pressure on local authorities that already live a hand-to-mouth existence.

Councillors need more decision-making powers in their community, particularly in the area of housing. I have raised the issue of decision-making on the zoning of land for residential use with the Minister, with the Minister of State and in this House. In the instance I raised, there was full agreement by planners in the county and the proposal ticked every box that could be requested, yet it was ultimately rejected when it came to the Minister for sign-off. The local comprehension of the situation is not there when that final decision is made. We cannot expect a Minister to have a full understanding of each town and village.

We need to restore the faith of communities in local government by empowering councillors. We certainly also need more accountability. We have brilliant civil servants in our local authorities but it will not always be the case that we have the top-class civil servants. We will sometimes encounter incompetence. If there is incompetence or people are not doing their job, there must be accountability. The salary for councillors is approximately €30,000 and they are talking to people on four times that salary who are not doing the work that is asked of them and, instead, are going off on another agenda. We must decentralise decision-making back to councillors, who are the democratic voice in local authorities, to make sure the civil servants who are paid to do a job are actually doing it. We need mechanisms to do that and to ensure there is accountability. If a chief executive, director of service or any member of a local authority is not doing the job he or she is resourced and paid to do by the State, he or she must be held accountable.

For semi-State bodies that are State funded, such as Transport Infrastructure Ireland, Eir, ESB and Uisce Éireann, there needs to be an orbit within local authorities to ensure overlap and joined-up thinking. In the case of TII's local transport plans for towns and villages, for example, there may be simple, quick fixes that could improve safety, whether by way of an extension of a footpath for a school or installation of speed ramps. Engineers in local authorities have to wait almost a year for approval for such low-cost safety measures. That could all be devolved to local authorities with the stroke of a pen, as opposed to councils having to beg TII for low-cost measures, which are not a priority for it, such as pedestrian crossings, extensions of footpaths or initiating safe routes to school. Decisions on such matters must all be devolved and kept within local authorities.

I look forward to working with the Minister of State and supporting his efforts in this area. He came up through the local authority in Waterford and he understands the situation in minute detail. We need to be granular and minute to get it right, rather than being lofty in our thoughts. It is about decentralising decision-making within local communities.