Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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769. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of additional powers granted to local authorities and the number of powers removed from local authorities over the ten-year period 2015 to 2024 inclusive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1227/25]

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal East, Fianna Fail)
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Local government has direct functional relationships with several Government Departments covering a wide range of policy and operational areas. In the context of those areas for which my Department has direct responsibility, local authority powers have been varied in a number of instances since 2015, including as follow below:

The Water Services Acts 2007 to 2022 allow for the responsibility for public water services to transfer from Local Authorities to Uisce Éireann. This process has commenced and, from 2026, local authorities will have no functions related to water services delivery.

The Planning and Development Act 2024 was enacted in October 2024, though the provisions have not yet been commenced. There are a number of new or amended powers for local authorities in the Act which would apply upon commencement of their related provisions. To take just one example, Part 22 allows planning authorities to identify suitable sites for Urban Development Zones.

My Department is currently putting arrangements in place to implement a phased commencement of the Act of 2024 to facilitate the transition to the new legislation across the planning system, taking into account the need to liaise with local authorities, planning bodies and other stakeholders.

The Planning and Development (Housing) and Residential Tenancies Act 2016 enabled planning applications for strategic housing developments (SHDs) of 100 housing units or more, or student accommodation or shared accommodation developments of 200 bed spaces or more, to be made directly to An Bord Pleanála for determination instead of going to local planning authorities. This change took effect on 3 July 2017. However, the Planning and Development (Amendment) (Large-scale Residential Development) Act 2021 amended the Act of 2000 to return decision-making powers on planning applications for large-scale residential development from An Bord Pleanála to local authorities.

The Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015 allowed planning authorities to charge a levy on vacant sites.

The Land Development Agency Act 2021 contains a number of provisions that impact the powers of local authorities. For example, Section 15 of the Act permits local authorities to request the Land Development Agency (LDA) to provide certain services. If the LDA cannot grant this request, the Minister may – on receipt of a report from the LDA - direct the Agency to provide these services. Other provisions of the Act impact local authorities’ powers in relation to the disposal of land. For example, Section 58 provides that Section 183 of the Local Government Act 2001, which permits members of a local authority to resolve a disposal of land not to be carried out, does not apply to the disposal of land by a local authority to the LDA.

The National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2014 will be repealed on a phased basis as the provisions of the Historic and Archaeological Heritage and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 are commenced. The commencement of the 2023 Act, will streamline and strengthen many of the provisions already available to local authorities under the National Monuments Acts 1930 – 2014. Local authorities will also have a new power of compulsory acquisition of registered monuments suitable to become national monuments (subject to Ministerial approval).

The Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2024 facilitated the election of Ireland’s first directly elected Mayor in June 2024. The Mayor of Limerick has taken functions at a strategic and policy level which were previously carried out by the chief executive. These include strategic and economic development, housing and building, road transport and safety, and environmental and climate action plans.

A number of new structures and supports are in place to aid the Mayor, including a Mayoral fund and a consultative forum (to facilitate engagement between the Mayor and national government). The Act also obliges any public body or government Minister to consult with the Mayor on the exercise of functions that have an impact on Limerick.

The 2024 Act also makes provision for individual local authorities to hold plebiscites on the question of whether to have a directly elected Mayor with executive functions for their administrative area. Where the outcome of a plebiscite is in favour of this, the Act requires that the Minister submit a report to the Oireachtas within two years, containing proposals for legislative measures to provide for a directly elected Mayor of that administrative area.

The Local Government Rates and Other Matters Act 2019, enacted in July 2019, contains a number of new powers for local authorities in respect of the levying and collection of rates. Local authorities have been levying and collecting rates under the new legal rates framework since 1 January 2024. The Act contains provisions to add to the suite of options already available to local authorities to support local businesses and ratepayers. These include new rates vacancy abatement and rates waiver schemes, to be decided by local authority members.

It is also worth noting that many of the 1,100 individual services provided by local authorities are non-statutory. Such services are provided in areas including: Finance, Housing, Planning, Libraries, Emergency Planning, Community, Tourism, Town Centre First Programme, Climate Action and Circular Economy, Transport, Waste, Water, Culture and Heritage, Business and Enterprise, and Support to the Ukraine humanitarian response. Priorities are determined and agreed by the Elected Council every 5 years and set out in the Corporate Plan, with the Annual Service Delivery Plan, the Annual Budget and the Capital Programme setting the related work programme and targets each year. My Department oversees workforce planning for the local government sector, a process that is concerned with ensuring that local authorities are resourced to meet evolving business and public needs efficiently.

The Government is committed to the ongoing reform and strengthening of local government. In this regard, the Programme for Government commits to convening a ‘Local Democracy Taskforce’ to finalise a programme for reform and to make proposals relating to local government, including proposals to increase the range of reserved functions of elected members of local authorities as well as to devolve further powers to local authorities for local services.