Irish Local Government in Context

Introduction
In considering new directions in Irish local government it is important to appreciate the evolution of the current structures and the place which local government has within the national system of governance.

The Current Organisation of Local Government in Ireland
The 29 county councils and 5 city councils are the primary units of local government. The full range of local authority functions rests with the county and city councils. Within the counties there are 80 town councils, which are responsible for a varied number of functions. 8 regional authorities promote the coordination of public services at regional level and 2 regional assemblies primarily manage programmes under the National Development Plan.

Local elections take place every 5 years. Every resident over 18 years of age is entitled to be registered as a local government elector. Citizenship is not a requirement for voting at a local election.

Councillors, i.e. the elected members, form the elected tier of a local authority. They are elected under a system of proportional representation. The council is the policy making forum of the local authority; the day-to-day management is carried out by the executive, i.e. the cadre of full-time officials led by the county or city manager. The number of councillors elected to each local authority ranges from 9 to 52.

Elected councils exercise reserved functions defined by law. They include decisions on policy and financial matters. The elected members also have an oversight role and responsibility for the general direction of the affairs of the local authority. The executive advises and assists the councillors, and discharges the day-to-day business of the local authority within the policy parameters defined by the elected council. While the division of roles between councillors and the executive is clearly defined in statute, in practice the policy and executive roles overlap.

Local authorities are multi-functional organisations. In addition to representing their communities, and regulating for the common good, local authorities deliver a range of services across the following areas:

Local authorities are funded by a number of revenue streams, from the Local Government Fund (which is comprised of an Exchequer contribution and the proceeds of motor tax), by specific State grants (such as grants for housing, roads etc), by charges for goods and services, and from the levying of commercial rates on relevant properties – see Chapter 12 for more detail.

The Evolution of Local Government in Ireland
In seeking to address some of the key challenges now facing local government in Ireland, the Green Paper poses questions about local governance, democratic accountability and connection with the citizen.

The structure of local government in Ireland outlined above still resembles that introduced by the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898. County and city councils are the primary units of local government, operating the full range of local government functions, with town councils (former UDCs and town commissioners) as secondary units within counties. The main reforms to this structure since the beginning of the 20th century were the abolition of Rural District Councils in 1926 and the reorganisation of county Dublin into 3 separate county councils in 1994.

In terms of governance, the distinct feature of the Irish local government system is the operation of the managerial system, which was introduced between 1929 and 1941. This form of local administration was inspired at the time by experience in the United States. The system gives significant executive powers to the manager with policy functions being reserved to the elected council.

Recent reforms of local government, over the past 20 years or so, have focused on strengthening the administrative abilities of local authorities, streamlining service delivery, and efforts to give greater meaning to the policy formulation powers of councillors within the framework of the managerial system. (See Annex III for a short note on the local government reform proposals of the early 1990s).

Over that period, some specialist or national strategic functions have been taken from local authorities. The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Roads Authority were set up in the 1990s to bring a strategic focus and consistent national approach to major environmental functions and national roads developments. However, the growing body of environmental law and the additional resources which have been assigned to non-national roads means that local authorities are doing more in these key areas today than they were 15 years ago – not less.

Local development agencies –Area Partnerships, Leader, County/City Enterprise Boards etc – have grown alongside local authorities. Part of the rationale for the County/City Development Boards is to more closely align these local development bodies with local government. The recent initiative to bring Area Partnerships and Leader Groups together has seen some rationalisation within a unified county based structure. The interaction and synergy between local government and these agencies continues to generate debate.

The Local Government Acts, 1991 and 1994, set the tone for a more enlightened approach to local government, removed statutory controls and relaxed the ultra vires doctrine to allow local authorities much greater freedom to respond to local needs.

However, Irish local government still has a much narrower range of statutory functions than local government in most other European States, which often plays a role in the provision of policing, health and education. These services are generally provided by units of sub-national government which are much greater in scale than most Irish county or city councils. Other European States have, in many cases, been more willing to restructure and realign local authority boundaries to suit more effective service delivery. In Ireland the concentration has been on improving policy cooperation and coordination between local government and other agencies/services, particularly through county and city development boards and joint policing committees.

Better Local Government and the Reforms since 1996
Better Local Government in 1996 focused on strengthening the policy making function of councils with the establishment of new structures such as the Corporate Policy Group and the Strategic Policy Committees. It also set the agenda for a modern management system within local authorities. The express intention of these reforms was to enhance councillor policy input. Councillors’ sphere of influence in public service delivery at local level was also recognised through their leadership of County and City Development Boards.

Other significant developments since the publication of Better Local Government include:

The Political Context of Irish Local Government
Every system of local government is rooted in the history, traditions, culture and evolution of its own country. Ireland is no exception.

Our two tier local government structure is based on a 19th century model which was swept away in Britain and Northern Ireland in the 1970s with the abolition of historic counties and less historic UDCs and other forms of local government. The county basis of local government in Ireland remains sacrosanct (there is still ‘creative ambiguity’ around the use and concept of County Dublin many years after the abolition of its county council), while Ireland turned to an American inspired managerial system which took much of the executive power from local councillors.

Our national democratic system has also played a strong role in shaping local democracy. Ireland is a small state with a higher ratio of national parliamentarians per head of population than most other European countries. This, combined with a strong executive system of Government and an election system based on multi-seat constituencies, has always meant that national politicians take great interest in local as well as national issues.

This political environment has not been conducive to giving local government full scope to shape local destinies. As the State has developed its services it has tended to create them as central services. Of course, it is fair to argue that, as a very small State, it was sensible that certain services such as education and policing should be delivered in this way, though this is not a universal approach among small States.

The abolition of the dual mandate in recent years has sought to focus the work of national politicians on national and international issues and to allow local politicians to concentrate on local issues. This move has not been without its own problems. The Irish public (or at least a significant part of it) still expects the local TD to respond to local issues. TDs can feel frustrated that their access to local government is more restricted, notwithstanding information sharing systems which were introduced at the time of the abolition. The local government system may itself feel that political leadership has weakened in some authorities due to the loss of the political skills and experience of full-time national politicians.

The local government management system has provided impartial and professional management of local administration. Arguably, however, the management system as operated in Ireland has contributed to a weaker local political system. Managers do not have a political mandate to represent the local community while local politicians do not have the responsibilities or structures to optimise a strong local leadership role. This local democratic weakness in turn reinforces the tendency for local communities and politicians alike to turn to central government to deal with issues which should be dealt with locally. An examination of issues raised on adjournment in the Dáil having significant “national” importance show a very heavy bias towards matters of primarily local significance.

Finally, it must be said that debate around the structures of Irish local government does not rate high in the public consciousness - perhaps because of its very status in the political hierarchy. The public does, however, live with the consequences of local authority decision making, especially in relation to the planning system. This factor alone requires us to consider the effectiveness of our local government system.

Local Government - the View from the Centre
The weak nature of local political democracy and poor articulation of the values of localism means that there can be a lack of understanding at central government level of differences in service delivery or prioritisation at local level. This view applies at both political and administrative levels of central government.

This view from the centre has also affected belief in the ability of local authorities to deliver new services. It has encouraged Government to by-pass local authorities in favour of separate local development bodies and it does not encourage decentralisation of power. This approach has arguably served to keep the local government sector much weaker than it should be.

There is a gap between the objective of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to “support strong, democratic and responsive local government”⁹ and the reality of local dependency on the centre. While local government law provides that local government is “independent in the performance of its functions”¹⁰, there are of course many constraints on the operation of this independence. Local government must abide by national and EU legislation. The sector also depends on significant specific grant-aided programmes which are centrally determined (although the €1billion Local Government Fund does provide significant discretionary funding).

One of the key roles of the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government is to set down national policy for the local government sector, and to provide the necessary legislative and regulatory framework within which the sector operates. Local government legislation also provides a set of rules governing the relationship between the Minister and local authorities in relation to a whole range of functions. These range from total prohibition on local involvement (planning permissions), optional involvement (issuing directions on development plans, holding public inquiries etc), required involvement (determining local electoral boundaries, the ultimate decision on removing a manager from office etc) to statutory consultation across a wide range of areas.

Informal (structured and non-structured) co-operation between local government and Government Departments is also part of the day to day interaction. Local authorities interact with wider range of Government Departments than heretofore as Departments have been reorganised and as local authorities have become involved in a wider range of activities in areas such as sports, arts and culture and community development.

This complex relationship can cause confusion in the public and political mind as to lines of responsibility and accountability. Ministers and national politicians are often called to intervene in matters which are proper to the local authority decision making processes, while in other cases it is necessary and correct that a higher national authority should have the ability to intervene.

Getting the balance right will always be a challenge.

The Ability of Local Government to Deliver
There is a danger, by focusing on the negative, that the successes in local government delivery get overlooked. Many of the core services which local government provides can seem mundane, yet require high levels of expertise and technical ability, such as the construction of roads, housing development or the operation of water services. A media environment, in which problems and failures are more newsworthy than solutions and successes, may also be a factor.¹¹

Local authorities are multi-functional organisations, delivering diverse and challenging services every day. These services are critical to the wellbeing of society and range from accommodating the homeless, to promoting local tourism, from urban and community development, to providing sports and recreational facilities.

Local authorities deliver important public safety services, directly through the fire service, and in partnership with Irish Water Safety and the Civil Defence. They have been to the forefront in providing key cultural resources nationwide through a much improved library service and Arts Officer network. Their role in protecting our built and natural heritage has expanded significantly in recent decades.

Local authorities are also charged with delivering on historically high levels of investment in our water and wastewater infrastructure to overcome the deficits which remain in the system. They have a key role to play in reducing Ireland’s reliance on landfill and radically improving municipal waste recycling rates through the provision of recycling centres, bring banks and segregated household waste collection.

Local government is entrusted with the investment of in excess of 5% of the country’s GDP and in so doing they are crucial to society’s prosperity, not least by delivering on infrastructural improvements. To help measure performance the sector has produced a set of service indicators, measuring performance across a range of areas, including housing, planning and the environment. It is the first sector in the public service to do so.

Local government is a vital, diverse, enabler of Ireland’s success. Its roles are complex, challenging and fundamental to our society’s desire to become a truly sustainable society. The complexity of its operations, and the wide range of skills available to it, gives the local government sector particular flexibility to respond to new challenges, given the chance and the provision of adequate resources.

Local Decision Making in a Globalised Era
While the focus of this Paper is on local government, no discussion on local decision making can ignore the wider context within which local government is situated. This includes national, EU and international levels of governance.

Ireland has one of the most globalised economies in the world. This has been part of our economic success. It means, for example, that decisions taken at WTO on international trade policy impact at the most local of levels. Opportunities are created for new industries and services, while pressure is put on traditional agricultural and industrial sectors. While there are many factors behind the transformation of the Irish economy, there is no doubt that our successful globalised economy exerts a real physical impact on the ground and local government must be part of the response to this. Local government must deal with the pressures of population and urban expansion while at the same time overcoming community and physical decline. Decisions taken on climate change by national governments, the EU collectively, and ultimately at UN level by the world community, are all interlinked and impact down the line on local government decision making; for example, in relation to sustainable planning and transport policies.

Ireland’s membership of the EU has been hugely significant right across the spectrum of local government activity. Local authorities are, in many instances, the primary statutory agents charged with both implementing, and complying with, the comprehensive code of environmental law adopted by the EU Member States. They have also delivered on a wide range of EU co-financed infrastructural investment.

And of course, national government remains paramount in setting national policies across the full social, economic, environmental and cultural agenda which impact on the business of local government. Key policies in this area include the National Spatial Strategy, the Climate Change Strategy, the National Development Plans, and so on.

All these forces, influences, policies and laws affect and constrain autonomous local decision making. Yet local government is essential to the well-being of the State. The essence of local government is that it is local. Developed and competitive countries continue to sustain a large number of small elected local authorities because active citizenship and social capital are important values in today’s complex world. Local authorities help to support these values.

The challenge is to ensure vibrant local expression and optimal local democratic decision making within the framework laid down by those higher tiers of decision making. Indeed, it is important to realise that sustainable national policies should, in turn, make for sustainable decision making at local level to the long term benefit of all.

Ireland is not unique in facing this challenge. The role of central government has become much more significant in many countries over recent decades in spite of greater devolution of powers. However, the issues may be pronounced here due to the financial dependency on central government and the political traits of the Irish political system outlined above. The relationship between central government and local government is discussed further in Chapter 10.

Complexity in Governance and the Need for Coordinated Development
Another factor driving change in local government is the changing nature of government. Government at all levels has become more complex. There is a greater public expectation of quality service, greater scrutiny of service delivery, greater diversity in service provision, greater need for policy and service integration, and greater need for connections across local government, Government Departments and other local and national agencies. This complexity calls into question the traditional structures which we use to deliver public services. In the area of health, for example, the Government decided that one central executive was required to provide a consistent, coherent and efficient level of service across the State.

In local government this greater complexity changes the nature and range of skills, capabilities and resources necessary to deliver local services successfully. For example, the housing function was traditionally a fairly straightforward service of building houses. Nowadays, a much more complex response is required in building new communities, and in regenerating areas which have suffered from past failures: the regeneration of Ballymun and the new initiatives in Limerick are examples of the multi-task and multi-agency response which can be required.

The creation of sustainable communities, requiring the integrated provision of physical and social infrastructure (housing, schools, transport and amenities) has been a challenge for local authorities. Some authorities, through the use of local plans and Strategic Development Zones etc, have been successful in developing new communities in a sustainable manner, with schools, community facilities and public transport all being brought together. In other areas, while there has been rapid housing development, such development has often been poorly located and poorly integrated with the provision of essential community and recreational services leading to adverse impacts on the quality of peoples lives, the cost of providing services and environmental quality.

New thinking is required to ensure that local and central government work more effectively together and with the private sector and communities in ensuring the integrated provision of key infrastructure and services. To these ends the Government has recently broadened the role of the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal to include a new brief for Developing Areas. Arrangements have been put in place to examine areas identified for strategic growth under the National Spatial Strategy, targeting those areas where a more co-ordinated approach is required.

The increased complexity in governance comes at a time when the State and the public service needs to show increased agility. There is in this environment an opportunity for local government to prove that it can increase its role and function in delivering for the local community, thereby allowing central government to concentrate on strategic national issues. Given the freedom to act, local government has the proximity and multi-functional flexibility to respond to local needs in a way that central government cannot.

The reforms suggested by this paper should assist local government to position itself for this challenge.

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