Southern local cuts
With 29 county councils, 75 town councils, five city councils, eight borough councils, eight regional authorities and two regional assemblies within its local government administration, the Irish Government has largely accepted that it must be downsized in order to save money.
The Special Group on Public Service Numbers and Expenditure (An Bord Snip) initially speculated that cuts of €5.3 billion were required in the Republic’s public sector. Its recommendations for local government cuts included reducing the number of county and city councils from 34 to 22. However, when the Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan released his Budget in December 2009 it became apparent that cuts of €12 billion were required over the next three years. That budget ordered the establishment of an efficiency group to deal specifically with saving money in local authorities.
The Local Government Efficiency Review Group began its work in January this year and is tasked with examining the cost base, expenditure of and numbers employed in local authorities.
The efficiency group will report to Environment Minister John Gormley in mid-2010. A consultation is currently under way and to date 44 submissions have been received from government departments, agencies, local authorities, business groups, and the general public.
Submitted proposals include a call from the Dublin Chamber of Commerce for the reduction of the 34 local authorities to 22 in order to make annual savings of €150 million and relieve the burden on businesses. There is, though, a defence of town councils by the Association of the Municipal Associations of Ireland, which says town councillors have a more detailed knowledge of local issues than county councils.
Chair of the efficiency group is Pat McLaughlin, Chief Executive of the Irish Payment Services Organisation, who also served on An Bord Snip. He believes that local government “could certainly get away with a lot less [than 22 county and city councils] depending on what the Government might decide.”
While the group continues its consultation, Gormley has brought a draft Bill to the Dáil which would bring in legislation for a directly elected Mayor for the Dublin region. The Mayor would have the power to direct the four Dublin councils and their managers on all policy, and a new regional development board, chaired by the Mayor, would be established to replace the four city and county development boards in the Dublin region.
Gormley said this move was a “hugely important step forward in terms of local government reform in Ireland.” However, Taoiseach Brian Cowen has been relatively quiet on the issue, possibly because he is coming under increased pressure to hold three by-elections for the seats vacated by Pat Gallagher (Donegal South-West), George Lee (Dublin South) and Martin Cullen (Waterford), on the same day as the mayoral elections, and is concerned that Fianna Fáil will not win, thereby losing their majority in the Dáil. And, Fine Gael has voiced their opposition to “the Green Party’s proposals to create a toothless, ill-defined ‘Mayor-Lite’ for Dublin in 2010.”
That party would like to see a Dublin Mayor elected in 2014, alongside the local elections. “It is simply not sustainable for Dublin to have a directly elected Mayor, four local authorities and 130 local public representatives,” its policy document states.
Fine Gael wants to consolidate the work currently being done by quangos to local government through new enterprise and employment units set up in each local authority. This policy would involve the amalgamation of 52 bodies into local government with the complete abolition of 42 others, saving the tax-payer €65 million in administration costs.
Labour supports a directly elected mayor for every major city or city-region. They want democratic accountability returned to local councilors and county managers to be replaced by chief executives with a limited range of executive functions.
Sinn Féin calls for increased powers for councillors, less powers for managers, and more mayors. Local service and procurement contracts should be adjusted by breaking tenders into segments to allow smaller contractors to compete. A review of the expenses regime could “eliminate” excess and abuse.
