Central Government Urged To Give More Power To Local Authorities

A politics expert says local councils should be given more power to speed up our infrastructural issues.

Ireland has one of the most centralised government systems in the EU which means most decisions have to go through Dublin before they get implemented.

The Government is currently examining ways to give more abilities to local authorities through the Local Democracy Taskforce.

Policy researcher Keire Murphy says councils can have their hands tied on the most ludicrous issues:

"Local authorities have very little flexibility around even the likes of hiring. If they want to hire a specific profile that really works for a project they're delivering they can't.

"They have to go to the central department who then writes the job spec, that has to be the same for all local authorities, then they interview the person and then they can go to the local level.

"So you're really missing that flexibility and ability to adapt." 

90% of our public spending is done by central government while that figure is more likely to be around 30% in other EU countries.

Ms Murphy says it means the whole system is slowed down unnecessarily:

"If there's an issue with how the HSE is working in Wexford for example, a TD asks a Parlimentary Question of the Minister, who then goes to their civil servants, who then goes to the HSE who then goes to their local structure and finds the answer to the question.

"That then has to go back to the Minister and then back down to the TD so there's this big loop and we're not just going to Dublin for resources but for answers as well."

The Government is being urged to implement the recommendations from the Local Democracy Taskforce as a matter of urgency.

A report released over the summer includes a swathe of proposed reforms, including allowing councils to become more financially independent by introducing tourist taxes and congestion charges.

Ms Murphy says it's time we took power away from central government and give it to areas where it will work best:

"I think you can also be really clever about seconding people from national agencies into local authorities.

"That's a way of building that capacity quickly and get the co-ordinated structures in place but it takes a lot of political will and a big vision to actually achieve it."

That report was funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.