Government launches taskforce to restore local government

The government has announced plans to reform the local government.

Ever since the Local Government Reform Act of 2014, which abolished town and urban councils and greatly reduced powers afforded to local authorities.

2023 research from the Council of Europe found that Ireland was in the bottom five in Europe in terms of how much power local governments had; only Russia, Belarus, Hungary and Moldova had weaker local governments than Ireland.

To that end, the Department of Local Housing, Local Government and Heritage have announced the establishment of a local democracy taskforce, which looks to strengthen local government in Ireland.

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne and Minister of State with responsibility for planning local government John Cummins TD have confirmed the establishment of the Local Democracy Taskforce to finalise a programme of reform and strengthen local government in Ireland

Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage James Brown said, “the work of the taskforce will pave the way for the next generation of local government reform.”

“Local government plays an important role in our democracy and in the delivery of essential services in Ireland. Local authorities provide over 1,100 services and are the linchpin for the lives of many in our community at local level.”

“Now more than ever, we recognise the importance of continually striving to enhance our democracy at local level, ensuring that the very best people enter local government and have the powers and capacity to work on behalf of the people who have elected them.”

Minister of State with responsibility for Local Government and Planning, John Cummins TD, said that he will receive recommendations form the Taskforce within the next six to nine months, with their findings then implemented by the government. 

The job of the taskforce is to examine funding, structure, functions and governance associated with local authorities.

Cummins explained, “this includes examining the rebalancing of power between elected councillors and the executive, devolving more decision-making powers to councillors; as well as providing councillors with enhanced data and greater input over the local authority budget, among many other things.”

The taskforce is looking into the possibility of granting more decision-making powers to councillors, strengthening the framework and powers of municipal districts and area committees and also weighing up the possibility of giving councillors great say and input into how local authority budgets are spent.

Speaking to this newspaper in November 2023, Fianna Fáil TD Paul McAuliffe said, “I think it’s somewhat absurd that part-time councillors are expected to run cities,” and noted that Fianna Fáil were opposed to the Local Government Act of 2014, an austerity-era measure implemented by the then-governing Fine Gael and Labour government.

“To run a city the size of Dublin better, we need reform,” McAuliffe said at the time.

This week last year saw Limerick become the first-ever city in Ireland to elect a directly-elected mayor, in the form of independent John Moran.

The Programme for Government mentions that it will look to support the directly-elected mayor with the subtext of seeing how Limerick gets on with a directly-elected mayor before expanding the idea to other cities in Ireland, namely Dublin.

2024’s local elections saw Tallaght South produce the lowest turnout across the entire state; turnout was a poor 31.5%, a slight improvement from the 27% turnout in 2019 but a stark drop-off compared to the 43.8% turnout in 2009.

Speaking to this newspaper in early 2024, Social Democrats TD and acting leader Cian O’Callaghan said that local democracy has been “hollowed out” in Ireland.

“When I speak to people on doorsteps, there is a genuine sense of frustration that local government is so weak here,” he said at the time. 

“There is a real gap when it comes to transport or housing. When you compare us to other European countries, we have our hands tied behind our backs.”

Green councillor and local democracy spokesperson Oisin O’Connor said in April that the government is “stalling for time,” and called on the government to come clean on when it plans to give Dubliners the chance to vote for a directly-elected mayor.

“Government ministers from across Ireland don’t trust us, Dubliners, to make decisions about our own city,” the Southside councillor said.