Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 13 Nov 1997

Vol. 482 No. 7

Adjournment Debate. - Local Authority Representation.

Mr. Hayes

I thank the Chair for selecting this item for the Adjournment. The Minister of State, who is busy this evening, dealt with health and other issues earlier. I regret that one of the three Ministers in the Department of the Environment and Local Government is not present to listen to what I have to say and to respond specifically to the points I will make. I am glad the Minister of State, Deputy Fahey, who was a colleague of mine in the Seanad, is present and I wish him well as junior Minister at the Department of Health and Children.

In the latter part of the last century in Britain a position developed where many of the constituencies in that jurisdiction were referred to as rotten boroughs. The same position is developing in our urban areas, particularly in the South Dublin County Council area. It is a relatively new area and encompasses the towns of Tallaght and Clondalkin and the older areas of Rathfarnham and Lucan. It is under-represented by the number of councillors on that local authority.

The 1996 census shows there are 218,000 persons in South Dublin County Council administrative area. That represents an increase of 4.5 per cent compared to the last census. There are only 26 members on that local authority. Under the recent census that compares to 32 members on Clare County Council representing an administrative area with a population of 94,000. It also compares to the Minister of State's local authority, Galway County Council, which has 30 members and represents an administrative area with a population of 131,000. Those figures show variations between the number of people in different administrative areas and the number of councillors on local authorities. This is not good enough. I call on the Government to outline its strategy in this regard.

In our county area there are seven wards. In the Clondalkin ward only three councillors serve 23,000 people while in the Greenhills ward four councillors serve 18,000 people. There are inequities not only in terms of the number of local authority members on each council but in the local authorities in regard to the boundaries and the vast change in the size of the population, particularly in the new suburbs. Tallaght, the third largest conurbation in the country, has ten local authority members. It has a population of 70,000 compared to Limerick city with a population of 52,000. There are 17 members on the local authority in Limerick compared to ten on the local authority in Tallaght.

What is the Government's strategy to address these anomalies as we approach the local elections next year? This position cannot continue. There are no guidelines on the ratio of the number of councillors to the number of people in an administrative area unlike the guidelines in the Constitution on the boundary commission. What is the strategy of the Department of the Environment and Local Government on this as local authority members will probably go before the people next year? The position, particularly in new county councils in Fingal, Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown and South Dublin, cannot be allowed to continue. I eagerly await the response of the Minister of State.

Mr. Fahey

The Deputy has raised an issue as to local authority representation which cannot be considered unique to South Dublin and relates to the appropriate number of members for each and every local authority. I welcome the Deputy to this House and it is good we both transferred from the Upper House. There are no constitutional or statutory requirements relating to equality of representation between local authorities. Each local authority operates within its administrative area and the main priority is that the relevant council has sufficient members to carry out its functions effectively.

In general councillor-population ratios as between the different cities and counties vary enormously and to date there has not been any attempt to grapple with this situation and with it the possibility that while some authorities might gain others could face a reduction in their membership. The representational issue can be seen as even more extreme at town authority level with over 740 councillors to represent what amounts to a small segment of the national population. This is the background against which the question of the appropriate level of local representation falls to be considered.

Among the many issues which arise in the context of any overall review of current local representational arrangements is that of the dual national-local mandate and whether it should be eliminated; the desirability of some local authority presence closer to the community at a more local level below that of city-county; the bringing together of the local government and local development systems post 1999; the public view generally as to changes in levels of representation; and the optimum size of local membership. Clearly, councils of unwieldy size are undesirable. The former Dublin County Council was generally accepted to fall into this category. A simple proposal to base the number of members of a council on the national average population or on some variation of the national average would be likely to result in unrealistic and cumbersome levels of representation in the case of some of the larger authorities. These points are being made to show that we are dealing with a complex issue and that it would be wholly inappropriate at this point to single out any individual local authority which felt its case merited special attention and to deal with it in isolation.

The Minister for the Environment and Local Government is committed to a fundamental and comprehensive programme of local government renewal across the whole spectrum of issues — funding, functions, organisation, human resources, efficiency, legislation and representation.

There will be many differing views on the appropriate level of councillor representation. It is not a simple issue and will be looked at in the context of the programme for local government renewal. Next year the Minister for the Environment and Local Government hopes to bring before the House a local government Bill to underpin that programme and generally modernise local government law which will provide a full opportunity for debate and consideration.

There is of course statutory provision for the revision of electoral areas within local authorities to ensure reasonable equality of representation between the electoral areas of a local authority. The question of whether a general review of electoral areas is necessary is currently being examined in the context of the 1996 population figures which are now available. Should such a review be undertaken, the position of electoral areas in south County Dublin would also be considered and any proposals for a revision of the electoral areas in that county considered necessary would be brought forward.

The Dáil adjourned at 5.25 p.m. until 2.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 18 November 1997.