Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for coming to the House to deal with this important Commencement matter. I would also like to thank the Cathaoirleach, Senator Jerry Buttimer, for selecting this Commencement matter.

As others here will know, I have always made it one of my key objectives in politics for more power to be given to local government and its councillors, and I have adopted that slogan. I unashamedly say that. I have always worked for that and will continue to do so as long as I am in this House because it is crucially important. Like many here, I have served in local government and understand its importance and significance, as well as subsidiarity and making decisions at that level.

I want to raise the issue of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe. It unanimously adopted a report at its plenary meeting in Strasbourg over a year ago which report raised serious issues and stated that Ireland had been found to be compliant with only eight of the 20 principles of the European Charter of Local Self-Government. I am keen to hear what progress has been made in a year.

The European Charter of Local Self-Government aims to protect and promote the rights of local and regional authorities across Europe. The independent report stated, as the Minister of State well knows, that Ireland remains one of the most centralised countries in Europe in regard to local government, the subsidiarity of the issues around local government and the principles and policies in respect of local government.

The report sets out a series of principles and standards that member states are expected to adhere to in order to ensure effective local self-government and decentralisation of powers. I will raise a few key issues in respect of the report. The Council of Europe expressed concerns regarding the following: limited democratic decision-making powers; the imbalance in power between elected councillors and chief executives in local authorities; the democratic evidence deficit in making decisions – this was central to many of the concerns in the report; the insufficient financial resources and autonomy of our local authorities and how that impacts on locally elected councillors in carrying out their functions; the very limited discretion for councillors in respect of their local authority finances, which is surely an issue that needs to be addressed; and the lack of financial autonomy, which was identified as a key obstacle to effective local government and local government administration.

Ireland having the most centralised system of local government in Europe is mentioned in the report. The report concludes that Ireland is far from compliant with the principles of subsidiarity, which I have spoken about, and requires decision-making.We all know what subsidiarity means: it is about making decisions at the local level. I am keen to hear what progress has been made. A great deal of work has been done by the Seanad local government committee and by the Local Authorities Members Association and the Association of Irish Local Government and their members. It is important that we address the shortcomings in this regard.

I am here to articulate the concerns of councillors and their representative organisations. They want to see greater powers, subsidiarity and more functions. It is with some regret that I say that this Government and previous Governments over the past 20 years have eroded the functions and powers of councillors across all local authorities. I have continuously advocated in this regard and tabled numerous amendments to legislation in my eight years in this House, but many of them were simply blocked. However, in the coming weeks, we will have opportunities to go out on the ground, meet our electorate and articulate those concerns. For that reason, I am keen to hear the Minister of State's views on how we are going to progress the commitments that the Government made to address the shortcomings identified in this report.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator Boyhan for raising this matter and for his continued interest in local government issues. As it happens, the monitoring delegation from the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe will travel to Dublin on 14 November next for a post-monitoring dialogue on its 2023 monitoring report. As a result, I am grateful for the opportunity to come before the House today on behalf of the Minister of State with responsibility for local government and planning to provide an update on Ireland’s progress towards full compliance with the European Charter of Local Self-Government. The recommendations of the 2023 monitoring visit, as adopted at the plenary meeting of the congress last October, have helped us to identify areas in which we are achieving, as well as areas where more needs to be done. The Government is committed to this process. As the report acknowledges, Ireland has made significant progress since the visit of the previous monitoring delegation in 2012, most notably through the provisions of the Local Government Reform Act 2014.

Reform of local government in Ireland is an evolving process. The Local Government Reform Act 2014 was an important step in that evolution, and the introduction from this year of a directly elected Mayor with executive functions in Limerick, with the potential for other local authority areas to vote to follow suit, is another key reform milestone. The Mayor of Limerick, who has been elected for a five-year term, has taken some executive functions of the former role of chief executive. The Mayor also has new functions and responsibilities, particularly in relation to the long-term, strategic development of Limerick. Crucially, this new office of Mayor recognises the role of the democratically elected council and the council continues to exercise its reserved functions. In the performance of his role, the Mayor is, therefore, fully accountable to the elected council, not just to the electorate every five years. An important feature of the Act to establish a directly elected Mayor of Limerick is that there are regular, statutory consultations between the Mayor and national Government, which meets one of the recommendations of the congress’ report.

With regard to the report’s recommendations to broaden the scope of local authority functions, functional areas and services currently under the responsibility of local government include social housing and homelessness, land-use planning and transport. The 2014 reforms introduced new economic and community development functions to local government. More recently, vital statutory roles in relation to climate action and maritime area planning, among others, have also been assigned to local government. These are substantial functions assigned to local government and the success of local authorities in managing these has been fundamental to the State’s ability to manage its response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ukraine humanitarian response and the integration of thousands of new arrivals into communities around Ireland. In all, local authorities deliver over 1,100 services, working in partnership with some 30 central Government bodies.

With regard to the report’s findings in relation to the financial independence of local government, the funding system that applies to local government in Ireland is a complex one and, arguably, the report has not correctly reflected this reality. There are references in the report to local property tax being the only source of locally generated income that can be used for local priorities. This is not correct.Commercial rates, goods and services and local property tax income are all used to fund local authority services, including planning, public lighting, provision of fire services and libraries. The elected members have, for the most part, discretion to determine the level of income from goods and services. The adoption of a balanced budget is probably the single most important duty that the elected members are called upon to carry out each year. To achieve that balance, the members must make informed and necessary choices to balance the level of service provision having regard to both the needs and resources available.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I thank the Minster of State for the way in which he has addressed and outlined some of the issues. My key ask today concerns what the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe identified in its report. It was sent to Government. I happen to sit on the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, so I am familiar with some of the background in terms of the Department and these responses. I know it is not the Minister of State's direct Department but it would be helpful to have a written response or memo detailing the 12 outstanding issues. There were 20 issues and there was concern about 12 of them. I know the Minister of State is very supportive of local government, local democracy and subsidiarity. It is about more power for local government and its elected councillors. It is about the key principle of subsidiarity, which is really important. What I would like to see from this discussion is a more detailed response.

I was not aware the monitoring delegation was coming here on 14 November. That is welcome but it would be important to have a detailed response on those issues in advance. If there are misunderstandings regarding this report, all parties should be brought together to establish what is factually correct. The Minister of State pointed out some anomalies and concerns. It is important the congress understands the complexities of local government finance and how those decisions are arrived at.

I thank the Minister of State for coming in and ask that he request from the Department a memo on the issues in dispute so we can see how we can work together to make progress.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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There are robust governance structures in place at local government level, based on legislation and good practice. All local authorities have an internal audit unit and an audit committee, chaired by an independent expert.

There are also opportunities to further strengthen the powers of locally elected members in respect of their primary oversight and governance role in regard to local authorities. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage will continue to engage with councillor representative bodies and the sector in this respect.

I note the report’s finding that financial conditions for elected members have improved, although the finding that Ireland is only partly in compliance with the charter in this regard is disappointing. Since 2021, a number of very significant improvements in the terms and conditions for councillors have been introduced and, indeed, are ongoing. In terms of their remuneration alone, elected members have seen their annual remuneration payment rise by over 60% to €30,274 since 2021. The Government has also aggressively promoted the balanced participation of women and wider diversity in local government, and reduced barriers to participation. The introduction of maternity leave in 2022 and additional maternity-related supports in 2023 are other actions we would like to point to. I will ask the Department to send the memo requested by the Senator.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister of State for his time today. I also thank Senator Boyhan for continuously raising these important issues.