Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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2137. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the annual savings achieved each year since the implementation of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 which allowed for the abolition of town and borough councils, in tabular form. [26544/17]

Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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2138. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government the annual savings achieved each year for each town council abolished or amalgamated under the Local Government Reform Act 2014. [26545/17]

Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 2137 and 2138 together.

The Government’s Action Programme for Effective Local Government indicated that it would be reasonable to project a target for overall savings in the range €15 to €20 million per annum relative to 2010 expenditure figures as potentially achievable from changes in sub-county governance when the new arrangements bedded down. Savings arose from the elimination of parallel structures including on costs associated with supporting 80 separate corporate organisations and the related duplication of functions and processes with the county council, and with the achievement of greater economies of scale and efficiencies within counties.

 However, it is not valid to measure the outcome of mergers solely in terms of expenditure reduction, because the gains from local authority unification can be applied and reflected in various ways. For example, resources previously absorbed in administrative processes and services which are freed up by merger can, instead, be used for more productive purposes such as improved services and promotion of economic development. Similarly, cost savings achieved could be applied to enhancing services. These are matters for decision by the elected council in each case.  Any reorganisation of this scale involves cost (for example IT systems) but these are largely one-off and will be heavily outweighed by lasting savings and benefits.

Moreover, comparison of costs between years would be distorted by significant changes that have occurred in local authority functions and activities separately from the structural reorganisation process. For example, local authorities have taken on significant new functions in the areas of enterprise, economic development and community development, and levels of activity have increased significantly in areas such as housing and planning. It is not possible, therefore, to provide meaningful data in the form requested.