Christopher O'Sullivan (Cork South-West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Fitzpatrick so much for raising this vital issue. In fairness to her, I know the whole concept of the task force and reviewing local government and how local authorities work was something that she called for in the last Seanad. She is following through now and is looking for an update. I completely understand. I fully agree with the strengthening of local government that she called for here today. We need more resources for councillors. As she said, she and I both know that councillors often rely on information that the executives would have full access to, and they are scrambling to get information. Those resources need to be increased.There has to be an acknowledgement, as the Senator said, of the dedicated work that local authority members do and the time and effort they put in. I agree with her that this is not reflected in their current conditions. I hope that it makes up part of the recommendations that have been provided by the task force. There is also the basic principle of strengthening the role of local authority members. It is vital and it is fair to say that it has been eroded over time. We need to get back to a place where it is put front and centre. I appreciate the Senator raising this and as she correctly pointed out, the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, and the Minister, Deputy Browne, now have that report. I am not privy to the recommendations, so I cannot go through what is within them in detail. However, they are assessing them at the moment and reading them in detail for publication very shortly, so this is a timely Commencement matter on the Senator's behalf. I am going to go through the process in the two and half minutes I have left in terms of how this came about and where it is at the moment.

The local democracy task force was established in June 2025 as a key commitment in the programme for Government. The terms of reference for the task force set out an ambitious and detailed work programme. In addition to the public consultation committee report from this House, the work of the task force was also built on a substantial body of work that had already been undertaken by the Association of Irish Local Government and the Council of Europe on the powers, functions and responsibilities of local government, which the Senator alluded to.

The task force was given an ambitious timeline of submitting its report within six to nine months, and the work that went before it meant that this short timeframe was achievable. The task force was chaired by Jim Breslin, a former senior public servant, and membership was made up of local authority elected member representative bodies, local authority executive representatives, officials from the National Oversight and Audit Commission, the Local Government Audit Service, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and a number of independent experts.

The task force delivered its report by dividing the terms of reference into four specific themes. These themes were the structures, funding, functions, and governance and accountability provisions within the local authority sector. As subject matter experts working within the sector, the pillar groups provided in-depth evidence-based information and advice to the task force to guide the preparation of all recommendations. In total, the task force, along with the pillar groups, had combined membership in excess of 50 people which saw the task force meet on nine occasions and the pillar groups meet in excess of 40 occasions.

A wide stakeholder engagement was central to the task force’s work and included key organisations and bodies, employer and employee representatives, community and voluntary groups and experts at the discretion of the task force. The task force invited submissions from a broad range of stakeholders, including political parties, and I understand it had very high levels of engagement, including an engagement with Senator Fitzpatrick herself. That engagement offers great confidence that the task force recommendations are representative of the sector, together with civil society that relies so heavily upon local authorities on a day-to-day basis.

The task force submitted its final report to the Minister, Deputy Browne, and the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, in early March 2026, and these are currently under consideration. It is expected that the recommendations within the report, together with an implementation plan, will be brought to Government shortly. It is their intention to maintain the momentum that the report has generated by driving any legislative change that is required on foot of recommendations.

I hope that gives the Senator some confidence. The term "shortly” is obviously not a prescribed time, but I am quite confident that we will see the results and the recommendations very shortly. As said in that statement, we will keep the momentum up. Any legislative changes that are required will build on the momentum from the task force.