Abolition of town councils ‘a disaster’
It was a disaster for local government in Ireland that town councils were abolished in 2014, Nenagh Independent councillor Seamus Morris told the Seanad Public Consultation Committee last week.
Cllr Morris made his remarks as the committee was hearing submissions on the future of local democracy.
“I was elected to Nenagh Town Council in 2004 and served as a town councillor for 10 years until, disastrously, town councils were abolished,” the Nenagh man, and a current elected member of Tipperary County Council, told the committee.
Cllr Morris has served as a county councillor since 2009, and was also a member of Nenagh Town Council.
He said he was elected on a single issue - taking a particular stance on a roadway project through a council estate.
“The road is long built but the ability for anyone putting themselves forward for election based on a local issue is all but gone,” he submitted.
Cllr Morris pointed out that the town council budget in Nenagh in 2003 was for €3.2 million to be spent in the town. This was a budget decided by councillors from the town who were elected by the people of the town . “That is all gone now with nine councils in Tipperary amalgamated in to one council of 40 members and down from 113 members.”
Cllr Morris said dealing with the changes in local government in Tipperary was a tough task for the incoming CEO at the time and management team “who, to be fair, have performed incredibly well”.
But he stressed that much of the good parts of local government disappeared with the changes. He asked: “What have we lost though? A recent Council of Europe report has stated that local government in Ireland lacks funding with only 40 per cent of the funding being allocated from central funds.
“The local government we have violates the principle of subsidiarity, which means that decisions should be taken as close as possible to the place where the decisions impact. “Councils have lost health services, educational services, driving license services and now, incredibly, water management services.
“More importantly, we closed local area offices in the smaller towns and villages, which had daily interaction with people to be replaced by a phone service.
“We have lost the ability to repair our own houses, we have lost council apprenticeships. The CEOs now have too much power with less and there is less power in the hands of elected representatives who mostly go to county council meetings to nod and wink the CEOs decisions through.
‘SHOCKING’
“What is more shocking, though, is the deferral of most decisions to unelected consultants, with most decisions at council meetings needing to go to consultants to give their expensive opinion first.”’
Cllr Morris said a recent Freedom of Information request he made on the cost of consultants for capital projects in Tipperary from 2019/22 revealed a spend of €11.2 million. Local social housing in the Nenagh Municipal District cost €31,000 per house in consultants’ fees.
“If we had to change a lightbulb in the council chamber we would have to consult a consultant,” he said.
“This is not local democracy. The end result in all of this is the lack of interest from our constituents with little or no engagement in local area plans and Part 8 applications. And worryingly there are less and less people going out to vote.”
Cllr Morris said these problems were more pronounced in urban areas where there was “very poor voting turnout at local elections, and even less enthusiasm for local candidates with political parties struggling to find candidates, some parties having to beg people to run.”
He said the decision to abolish town councils was taken by national politicians in a “nearly empty Dáil”. “If we are to be serious about local democracy town councils need to be in the conversation,” he urged.