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Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Goverment

Part I – Setting the Context

Part II – Leadership and Local Government

Part III – Connecting with People and Communities

Part IV – Wider Connections

Part V – Finance and Ethics

Annexes

Some Notes on Town Government

A. A Brief Note on the Creation of the Town Authorities
The statutory origins of town local government lie in Acts of Parliament enacted from 1840 to 1898, although some towns have their origins in medieval Royal Charters. As such, the current structures of town local governance were largely born as 19th century solutions to 19th century problems. The Acts provided for the creation of a number of different types of local government structures, with varying functions. The primary layers of local government were the county councils and county borough corporations (now city councils) with a lower tier within counties of borough councils, urban district councils, town commissioners and rural district councils. Rural district councils were abolished by the Local Government Act 1925.34

There was substantial incremental change to the town structures during the 20th century. The last promotion of a town commissioners to Urban District Council status was that of Howth, in 1918. Howth UDC was subsequently abolished in 1942 and was incorporated into Dublin County Borough and later Fingal County Council. Under s.74 of the Local Government Act 1925 a number of UDCs were ‘de-urbanised’, i.e. reclassified as town commissioners.35 Many of these reclassified town commissioners were subsequently dissolved.36 In Dublin a number of UDCs were abolished under the Local Government (Dublin) Act 1930 and subsumed into the city, county or Dun Laoghaire Borough.37

Since independence, 4 new town councils have been established; Tramore in 1948, Shannon in 1982, Greystones in 1984 and Leixlip in 1988. All 4 were established as town commissioners.

B. Recent Reviews of Town Government Reform

Local Government Reorganisation and Reform Report 1991
The 1991 Local Government Reorganisation and Reform (Barrington) Report stated that town authorities were generally very small, that they had “limited capabilities in staffing and resources” and that such towns were “responsible for infrastructural functions which they could not discharge efficiently.”

The Barrington Report therefore supported the continued consolidation of functions at county level but put forward two suggested models of sub-county government, i.e. (a) district councils, centred on towns but giving full coverage across the county, or (b) district committees of county and city councils, again ensuring full county/city wide coverage but replacing existing town councils. The Barrington Report considered that a meaningful set of local authority functions could be devolved to such districts, together with a role of co-ordinating other local services.

In making these recommendations, the Committee which compiled the report stated that, while sub-county arrangements were in need of a fundamental overhaul, they “were unable to reach agreement on the new sub-county arrangements which should apply.”

Report of the Reorganisation Commission – Towards Cohesive Local Government – Town and County April 1996
In the absence of consensus on the way forward in relation to town government, the Government decided that further consideration should be given to the most appropriate type of local government structures at sub-county level. To this effect the Local Government Act 1994 established an independent statutory commission to carry out a review of sub-county local government. In setting up the Commission the Government made clear that it was not intended to abolish existing urban authorities or to establish a new tier of district councils.

The task of this Reorganisation Commission was to prepare and submit a reorganisation report containing proposals for town local government, including such matters as the number of classes of local authority; the role and functions appropriate to each class; financial, staffing and organisational matters in relation to each class and the implications for county councils, criteria and procedures for the creation of local authorities for non-municipal towns etc.

The Report of the Reorganisation Commission – Towards Cohesive Local Government – Town and County, was published in April 1996. The recommendations of this report focused on how the role of town councils could be improved within a context of county councils as the primary units of local government while ensuring overall effectiveness, efficiency and economy.

The key recommendations of the report included:

  • A more integrated approach between town and county, including joint staffing and organisational structures;
  • Joint service centres where both town and county business could be transacted;
  • All sub-county authorities to be classified “town councils” but allowing for diversity in function between towns depending on local circumstances;
  • Towns over 7,500 population to be eligible for local authority status subject to rigorous assessment, and non local authority towns to have improved linkages with local authorities (through recognition of development associations etc); and,
  • New roles for town councils in terms of their representational role, town development and community leadership.
34 Ireland is unusual but not unique in having a democratic tier specific to only certain areas. County and district councils do exist in some areas in England but there has been a gradual and continuing move towards unitary councils over recent decades. In the United States some counties include “incorporated” and ‘unincorporated” areas within their boundary – see for example Miami-Dade County which has 35 incorporated cities including Miami City as well as a large unincorporated area. About half of Miami-Dade’s population lives in unincorporated areas.

35 Rathkeale 1926, Roscommon 1927, Fethard 1936, Callan 1940, Passage West 1942, Granard 1944, Belturbet 1950, Cootehill 1950.

36 The towns dissolved under s.62 of the 1994 Local Government Act were Callan, Fethard, Newcastle West, Rathkeale, Roscommon and Tullow. However, the Commissions of these towns had been wound up much earlier between 1913 and 1941.

37 Pembroke, Rathmines and Rathgar, Blackrock, Dalkey, Dun Laoghaire, Killiney and Ballybrack.