LOCAL GOVERNMENT reform is being implemented by stealth. A White Paper on reform, promised during the early days of this Government, is still awaited. But, following a report by the Local Government Efficiency Review Group, administrative changes have been authorised by Cabinet that are designed to sweep away town councils. That is not how democratic issues should be decided.
The direction in which the political wind is blowing became clear through a submission by Fianna Fáil in connection with the long-delayed White Paper. The party proposed that towns with populations of less than 17,000 should lose their councils because they were inefficient, lacked focus and were not delivering for the citizen. Instead, these urban centres would be represented on larger “town and district councils”, as suggested by the McCarthy report.
Saving money and creating more efficient administrative structures have become Government priorities, even as its determination to postpone the introduction of property and water taxes becomes explicit. Lacking adequate funding, local government politics and administration have to change. The amalgamation of city and county administrative structures, involving a reduction of between 15 and 30 per cent in the number of middle, senior and top managers, has already been agreed by Government on the recommendation of the Local Government Efficiency Review Group.
This group while not asked for its views on local government boundaries or political structures, gave them anyway. It recommended that town councils should lose their powers in relation to rates, planning, roads and housing functions. The Government accepted that report in full. Town councils will therefore be reduced to the status of talking shops. The White Paper, when it eventually appears, is expected to recognise that reality through proposals for the establishment of larger town and district councils along with the amalgamation of some city and county regions.
Savings of up to €450 million have been indicated as a result of administrative and political changes. It is a powerful incentive for a cash-strapped Government unwilling to contemplate the introduction of a property tax. But new systems of accountability for elected representatives and public officials are also required. The scandal of excessive and inappropriate land rezoning has shown that a correct use of power is more important than political or administrative structures.