Tipperary TD slams abolition of borough and town councils in Dáil Eireann

 Tipperary TD Seamus Healy has told Taoiseach Micheal Martin that the local democracy task force being set up should address the re-establishment of borough and town councils.

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Deputy Healy, who raised the matter in Dail Eireann, voiced concern that vital stakeholders were not being included in the public consultation process.

Deputy Healy said the abolition of borough and town councils tore the heart out of democracy.
“ I want to raise with the Taoiseach again the re-establishment of borough and town councils. As he knows, local government is the heartbeat of democracy. The heart was torn out of democracy with the abolition of town and borough councils in 2014 by the Fine Gael-Labour Party coalition.

These councils were replaced by committees with no powers, functions or funding. Effectively, the are talking shops. This has done serious damage to towns right across the country. It is widely accepted and acknowledged, even by the former leader of the Labour Party, Brendan Howlin, that this was a very bad decision. Clonmel, one of the five original boroughs in the country, with a mayor and a form of local democracy dating back to the 1400s, is a town very badly affected by that decision.

I acknowledge the programme for Government commitment to establish a local democracy task force. However, there are widespread concerns about the terms of reference of the task force. There is no mention of the re-establishment of borough or town councils.

The composition of the task force is heavily loaded in favour of existing individuals and bodies connected to local government and local government management. There are no representatives, for instance, of community, tenants' or residents' organisations. There are also no trade union or chamber of commerce representatives. The task force has limited its consultation process to requests for submissions from designated organisations. There is effectively no public consultation process.

If there is to be a re-establishment of town and borough councils and real local government reform, this task force must be open, transparent and accountable and must involve real public consultation. If this does not happen, the Government's statement that local government is the heartbeat of democracy will mean nothing. Will the Taoiseach make sure that real local government and democracy are put in place by means of the re-establishment of borough and town councils and the setting up of new councils for towns that have grown and expanded in recent years?

á , thanked Deputy Healy for raising an important issue that was close to his heart.
“At the time, I opposed the abolition of town and borough councils. As a democrat, I believe in fundamental layers of democracy. Town councils played a very effective and impactful role in their day. In the first instance, they were a channel for people to get involved in communities and politics and to outline plans and visions for their towns. As Deputy Healy says, in Clonmel and all across the country we have very good examples, including in Clonakilty, Kinsale and Dungarvan. They were all effective.

The problem is that when the system gets rid of something, the system them has to be dragged kicking and screaming to re-establish it. We have set up the task force because in the intervening period what replaced the town councils were the area municipal districts. That is an issue that has to be factored into whatever we do.

I do favour at least establishing a pilot programme whereby we look at certain areas of population of a certain scale where we could reintroduce councils. We talk about connection to people and we talk about democracy. The town councils were that connection.

I was in some places recently where flooding had taken place. The absence of a town council and a basic administrative capacity was sorely felt over the past number of years in terms of resources being readily available in a given town if flooding occurred. More importantly, these councils are a way of bringing people into politics at a particular level. People can graduate to county councils or the Dáil subsequently. It is about civic participation in society and in our communities.

I could never understand the negativity in some quarters towards councils. I was a bit frustrated at the decision by my good colleague - and I have great respect for him - former Deputy and Minister Brendan Howlin. As soon as he left the Department, he had regrets about the decision. That said, it is important that he has said that he thinks it was not a great idea. The latter is important because he is somebody who has been through both sides of it.

The task force will be reporting in the first quarter of next year. There has been stakeholder consultation. I take the Deputy’s point about public consultation. We might ask the task force to have a look at that. It is examining structures, functions and the financing of local government. I take on board the Deputy's bona fides in the context of what he is saying. The report will come back to us and we will take it from there,” said the Taoiseach.

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In response said he acknowledged and fully accepted the Taoiseach’s personal support for the re-establishment of town and borough councils

“He has outlined that to me previously in response to a parliamentary question. He also expanded on that in a feature in the Irish Examiner shortly afterwards. However, there are very serious concern that the whole task force process is being controlled by insiders in the Department and in local government and that we will end up with a proposal that will tinker around the edges and that will involve no real reform and no re-establishment of the borough and town councils. I am asking the Taoiseach to intervene with the task force to ensure that we see the re-establishment of borough and town councils and, indeed, the creation of new councils for towns that have grown and expanded in the past number of years,” said Deputy Healy.