2026-01-15

Under Standing Order 38A, I call on Deputy Timmins.

The programme for Government states: Local Government is the beating heart of our democracy. It is responsible for many of the essential services on which we depend – housing, local roads, planning [and many other things]." I wish to talk about my experience of over 20 years as a local councillor before I came here and how the powers of the councillor have been diminished. First is planning. In 2004, I could and did make changes that made a real difference to help rural planning. In 2022, I was told that they must comply with national planning guidelines, so my changes were not allowed. In the 2022 Wicklow development plan, we dezoned vast areas of land because of the Planning Regulator's guidelines. These were based on the outdated 2016 census. We knew we had a housing shortage. At the time, I pointed out how crazy this was but nobody was listening to us councillors at the time. At one stage, the Planning Regulator told us that we could not zone for four houses in a town of 2,000 people. In addition, the section 140 powers for councillors covering planning were abolished. Housing bodies have taken over much of social housing. They are not accountable to public representatives. As they do not have to sit before councillors at a monthly meeting, the democratic input is further reduced. Water and wastewater are completely outsourced. Again, the responsible body is not accountable before councillors on a monthly basis or through a strategic policy committee, SPC. The number of councillors has reduced from 1,627 to 949 after the changes in 2014. This is one of the lowest per capita representations in the whole of Europe. The only significant funding income for current expenditure comes from commercial rates and property tax. All other funding must come from central government. This further limits councillors' powers. The property tax was supposed to bring extra funding to the local authorities but all that happened was that it reduced Government grants. Some councils still do not retain all of the property tax collected and this needs to be addressed as it is simply unfair. I ask that we consider using the taxes that are very much local based, for example, motor tax, the residential zoned land tax and the new derelict property tax. I understand the local democracy task force met six times and will produce a report in February. I hope it will recommend many of the points in the Seanad report on local democracy of October 2024. I urge the Minister and all of his colleagues to support these recommendations.

I thank Deputy Timmins for raising this very important matter. Like him, I served many years as a local authority member and I was also privileged to be cathaoirleach of my county in Westmeath. I got a huge amount of experience through the process. I am always very much aware that local government is the closest arm of government to the citizen, with the more than 1,100 services it provides in many sectors of society. They are absolutely key and they are upheld and fought for by our local authority members throughout the country. This is why, when I was Minister of State with responsibility for local government I prioritised making improvements by introducing maternity leave for female councillors, which was so important, and bringing about proper pay and conditions for local authority members. I am very much aware of the challenges they face, particularly in our modern era when devising county development plans, local area plans and all of the strategies that local authorities are now obliged to have under primary legislation. Notwithstanding the 180 powers in the reserved functions they have, erosion has taken place in many sectors and many areas of our local authorities. I know from working with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, that he is doing great work in the local government sector. The Government established a task force on local democracy back in June. This has been working to progress and bring proposals forward. It held its inaugural meeting on 26 June and has met on seven occasions to date. It will meet again this afternoon. The Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, will be in very close contact and will be watching over the reform proposals therein. I am absolutely a strong supporter of local democracy and of our local authority members, of all parties and none, and the great work they do throughout our country. I would be very supportive of additional powers for our local authority members. We are very clear about the work they do. In many cases, and I know this from my work on local government, local authorities in particular are first responders. If we look at the Ukrainian crisis, when thousands of people came to our shores, local authorities were at the very forefront. We can look at the global pandemic and the work they did. We can look at any of the significant weather events that hit our country. Local authority workers, and particularly our ground staff, are often out there risking their lives, trying to ensure that people can get to work safely and that our local communities can function. A huge debt of gratitude is owed to all of our outdoor staff and all of our local authority members who work tirelessly to ensure we have stronger communities. They are working to plan how infrastructural investment takes shape in our communities through county development plans and local area plans.

I appreciate that the Minister understands and that he has been there. I repeat that powers are far too centralised in this country. We all know the word "subsidiarity". The programme for Government supports it, and it is stated in it, but we do not apply it to councils. They have the local knowledge and must be allowed more autonomy in decision-making. In addition to this, communication between Departments and local authorities must be improved. At the beginning of last year, I asked in the Dáil that the Minister give local authorities housing targets and that every quarter he would meet, on a formal basis, with the CEOs and directors of planning of the councils and that he would monitor these targets monthly. This must happen. It is too important not to happen. This will lead to hard questions being asked of the councils and also hard questions being asked of the Departments. Similarly, more communication needs to happen with county councillors. There are six times as many county councillors as TDs and we need to use this resource. The voices of the people who elect councillors are not being heard. The centralised decision-making process undermines our democracy.

I thank Deputy Timmins for his response. I am very much at one with him and the vision he is setting out. The Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, along with the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, has brought in a number of local authorities and continues to do so with regard to housing and zoning. This is setting the trend that we need to be more ambitious to ensure we underwrite the infrastructure for the growth of the growing economy we have in this country and the significant growth in our population. Section 28 guidance encourages ambition and local authorities taking a proactive view. This is what we want to see in the trajectory of local property tax, which gives a significant uplift to the budgets of local authorities; we need to see more responsibility being taken on. The local democracy task force is examining these functions and the report will be received by the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, in the coming weeks. We want to ensure that local authorities take responsibility and this will be important for housing. We have to hold the feet of the local authorities to the fire, and we are unambiguous in saying this, in respect of housing. We also commend them on their work in other areas, which is really appreciated by communities up and down our country.