Ladies and Gentlemen
I am delighted to be here today at what is an important moment for local Government in Ireland.
Reforming local Government is about solving problems and providing services that have a direct impact on all of our lives. We need local Government to be more democratic and more responsive, and we need that reform to happen while at the same time maintaining what is best in the existing system.
For many years, first as a Councillor, and subsequently as Labour’s spokesperson on the Environment, I have been engaged in the debate on local Government reform. I have seen up close what works in local Government in Ireland, and what doesn’t. Today, after many years of debate and discussion, this Government is embarking on a clear path to reform.
I have long held the view that there are three fundamental and linked problems with our present system of local Government.
Firstly, the system we currently have is undemocratic. The franchise is gravely outdated, there are big disparities in representation between counties, and too many functions have been taken out of the hands of elected councillors. Secondly, the system that we now have is not sufficiently responsive. It is essentially a system of county councils, which deals well with problems at a county level, but does respond well to issues at sub-county, or district level, or at regional level. Thirdly, local Government does too little Governing. The limited role that councils have in issues like job creation or community development undermines its credibility with the public.
The challenge that faces us in Government is how to reform this system, to make it more representative and more responsive, and at the same time produce more cost effective and efficient system.
We also have to ensure that, while driving reform, we do not loose sight of what works well in the existing system. That is why we are making clear today that the City and County structure will remain the core of the local Government system.
But while keeping that key feature of the system, we are radically reforming it. Under the new structure that we are proposing, city and county councils will be made up of municipal districts, which will replace the present patchy and incomplete system of town councils. Under the new structure, we will have fewer councillors, but they will have dual roles, operating at both district and county level. This will mean that councillors will be able to operate in a structure which allows them to deal effectively both with the very local issues that arise at district level, and with county council business.
The election of those councillors will be based on an updated and fairer franchise, that strikes a better balance between the need to have equality of representation on one hand, and the need to have councils on a scale that can function effectively on the other.
We will also have a new system of reformed regional assemblies that can deal with more strategic issues. And we have set out a process through which the councils in Dublin can look at how they work together, and that will provide for a plebiscite on a directly elected Mayor for Dublin in 2014. In Cork, a similar process will examine the issue of the city/county boundary.
We will replace the existing system of city managers with a Chief Executive Officer, and we will address the functions of these CEOs in order to transfer functions back to elected members. At the same time, we are determined to build a more rounded and effective system of local Government. We want to strengthen its role in economic development and job creation, and give local Government a central role in co-ordinating local and community development.
Reform isn’t easy. The document we are publishing today illustrates the complexity of the task ahead. There is an enormous job of work required to translate the ideas that we are setting out here into legislation and then into practice. There will be issues to resolve on the way, and problems to iron out. There will be people who will find reform uncomfortable, because it will change the way they have worked, in some cases over many decades. As a Government, we want to move ahead on a collaborative basis, but move ahead we must. In a modern democracy, local Government is the first point of contact between politics and people. It has to work better, and it has to move beyond the scandals of the past. This is a vital part of our reform agenda precisely because local Government is so close to all of us.
Thank You.