I call Deputy Ring. It will be important for our Nepalese friends to hear the view from Mayo.
Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) Bill 2023: Second Stage (Resumed)
Question again proposed: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time."
I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I welcome the Bill on the directly elected mayor for Limerick, but I have to say that with a big caution. Really in this country we have the Civil Service and the county managers running the country. I am sick and tired of it. The time has come. I will give just one example of it. In Mayo today, two thirds of the business property in the county was revalued. For one third of these businesses their rates went up. These are small little businesses. Why are we paying rates to the council? They do not provide water or refuse services. In my county the council has not cut the hedges in the past two years, or since the new county manager came in. It never happened when I was on the town council, and I was also on the county council and in the Dáil at the one time. Some civil servant came up with a bright idea, with a weak Minister, that we would get rid of the dual mandate.
Hear, hear.
I had the courage to go to the courts. I lost it but I did not get a lot of support in this House. The day we got rid of the town councils and the day we got the elected representatives such as Deputies taken off county councils was a sad day because we handed over their powers to the county managers. They get two or three from Fianna Fáil, two or three from the Independents, and two or three from whichever else, and they go in and cuddle the manager and they kiss the manager and they give them a little job in here or a little job in there, and nothing else happens for the rest of the members. The time has come where we need real power in this country to bring back the elected representatives and give the powers back to them.
Getting rid of the Seanad was another great idea by civil servants and weak Ministers but they could not get rid of the Seanad because it had to go to a referendum. What did the people say? "No, we want our elected representatives and we need our elected representatives." They got rid of the health boards to take away, again, the elected representatives. They took away the members of the health boards and what happened? Now we have the HSE. I write to the Ceann Comhairle and give out to him every day. When I put down a Dáil question the next thing is I get a reply saying that the Minister for Health has no responsibility and that it is the responsibility of the HSE. I thought that the Members in this House were answerable to the people, but, no, they are not.
One of the previous speakers mentioned that we had county managers and assistant Secretaries General The minute they get out of those jobs, they get put on a State board. If they do not get on a State board, they are brought in as advisers to the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications, for example. They are brought in as advisers so not alone do we have the officials who are against elected representatives, we also have the county managers and former Secretaries General and assistant Secretaries General all being put on these boards to advocate against elected representatives. I want to ask a simple question of the Minister of State this evening and I also want to ask his officials. Why for so many years have they resented putting the local authorities under the control of the Comptroller and Auditor General? If I tabled an amendment to put the local authorities under the control of the Comptroller and Auditor General, would the Minister of State accept it? In every single report over the past 20 years, the Comptroller and Auditor General has been concerned at the way local authorities are operating. I would also like the officials to look at this. Yet they do nothing for them on the rates. If a government agency - be it the Department the Environment, Climate and Communications or the Department of Rural and Community Development - or whatever Department - gets a scheme done at any level in the local authorities, they take a bit off the top to do that job. I will give a very simple example. Deputy McGrath is the man like myself - and I brought it back - of the local improvement scheme, LIS. The Government put the money into it but what did the local authorities do? They took 13% to 15% off the top for their staff to go out and overprice the jobs anyway. We must do something about what is happening in local democracy. Another speaker mentioned why people do not vote. Why would people vote when they cannot get their hedges cut and when we have no outdoor staff anymore? We have more managers, more officials and more engineers but we have no outdoor staff only for the Tidy Towns groups - and I want to give them credit here today - including the Tidy Towns committee in my town. Shame on the county council since the new arrangement came in. They called it better local government but I call it bitter local government because that is what it was. We got rid of all the fine people that were in the local authority. They left because the county manager shoved them aside. How did the managers shove them aside? I will tell the House how they shoved them aside. If the job is going in Limerick, they would get on to the Department and they would arrange between them to set up the board. So the fella in Mayo would go on the board for the Limerick job, and the fella from Limerick goes on the board for Mayo. Whoever the manager in Mayo or Limerick wanted the job to be given to - even if he or she was not fit for the job but if he or she was the manager's boy or the manager's girl - they could get the job. That is what is going on in local government in this country.
I say this as somebody who came through the system. I was elected to the town council in 1979. Getting rid of town councils was the greatest scandal of all time. What should happen now-----
The Deputy is in Fine Gael. Why did he back them?
You listen to me-----
Fair is fair.
You listen to me. I am the only one-----
Why did the Deputy not?
I was the only one that sat over there when nobody in this House voted against it - nobody. The Deputy can go back and check the record. I was the only one that was prepared to vote against it. No party opposed it.
Why did you not-----
Be quiet you-----
Why-----
-----because I am always listening to you. You listen to me now for a while.
It is easy to talk now.
What we need now is to get rid of the county councils and bring back the local-----
It will not be hard to get rid of you.
The people will get rid you the next time; you had better watch out now. You just watch it. All you are is a mouth, an aul mouth that is always mouthing in here and who has never done anything about any place.
On the local authorities, the Minister of State needs to bring back the town councils and extend them. We should five or six districts in every county but we should not have six county managers. We should get rid of them, and we should have a manager in each district and they should have their own budget. The elected representatives should have a say and not be running up to the county manager with that manager as director of our services. We have more managers, more directors of services and fewer councillors than we ever had in this country and we have the worst local government.
Thank you, Deputy.
I will test the Minister of State. I am sorry, I am going to finish, a Cheann Comhairle. I want to ask the Minister of State again, and I am asking him to respond. Will he put the local authorities under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General? I have asked the Taoiseach. For whatever reason and whatever powers they have, by God, they are afraid of the county managers.
You are very good. I thank the Deputy for that.
On a point of order, does Deputy Ring realise that he has been in government for 12 years?
That is not a point of order.
For the Deputy to come in here and talk about it, has he amnesia or what?
Will Deputy Gould sit down? We always listen to the Deputy.
That is the truth.
When I was in government, I delivered.
You did.
All the Deputy ever did was talk, talk, talk and bring people outside the Dáil. That is all the Deputy ever did. The Deputy is a talker. I am a deliverer and I delivered when I was there.
Deputy.
The Deputy never delivered anything, or anyone in Sinn Féin.
You got rid of the town councillors, yourself and Phil Hogan.
Go away, Sinn Féin. You have destroyed the country. Liz Truss-----
Deputies.
I will tell the Deputy one thing, we do not want you in government, whatever we have.
They must have forgotten about our guests.
Yes, our visitors left.
In disgust.
I think the Deputies have frightened them off.
This is what democracy is about - telling the truth.
Telling the truth - a first time for everything.
Can we go, please, to Deputy Pringle, who is sharing with Deputy McNamara, for a quieter contribution?
I was distracted there for a bit, a Cheann Comhairle. I was listening to that contribution. It was very interesting. One would wonder what Fine Gael did to local authorities at any stage. They participated in the fiasco that we have in terms of local authorities - Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Labour Party and every Government - and that is the problem. Out-of-government control would make a big difference to it.
I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to contribute to the debate. There is no doubt the system of local government is in urgent need of review and overhaul. The legislation presented an opportunity to reimagine how our local authorities should be run, yet, instead of using this opportunity to empower local authorities, the Government has brought forward legislation that is almost as weak as the local government system itself.
Shamefully, but unsurprisingly, Irish local government has been placed third last out of all EU, OECD and Council of Europe states in terms of organisational autonomy. Not only do our local authorities have issues with representation with Ireland having fewer elected representatives per population than most other European states, there are also serious functional and design issues. Due to institutional design, councillors have little or no power at all as they are completely dominated by the executive of the council, who is appointed by central government. It seems the purpose of the legislation is to give some power to one elected member, but giving minuscule power to one of 949 elected councillors is unacceptable and undemocratic.
Councillors are quite happy to participate in that system and go along with. We have the fiasco of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and, as they were at one time, Independent Fianna Fáil, all pretending that they govern Donegal County Council when actually they do not; the county manager governs it. The councillors are quite happy to go along with it, make it look like that they are in control, appoint a mayor every year and it looks like that they are doing the business when they have no say whatsoever.
Decisions being made at local level should be made by elected representatives and not by Government-appointed staff. This type of system forces councillors to act as opposition, rather than decision makers. It is also extremely rare, as Ireland is one of three countries in the world that uses a council-manager model.
However, it is not good enough to merely give elected members the power of the council executive while central government continues to dominate local government. We need to significantly expand the remit of our local authorities. This is what this Bill should have looked to do but this Government has no interest in giving more powers to local authorities. The legislation has merely been put forward to score a few political points. The Government does not care about local democracy. People have been calling for local government reform for decades and after years of successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael-led Governments continuously dragging their heels on this, the legislation put forward today is incredibly disappointing.
Although it is a positive step that there will be a directly elected mayor for the first time in the history of the State, we have to put this into context. This is merely one change in one of our 31 local authorities. It is also completely unrealistic for us to think that introducing a directly elected mayor to a system that is already incredibly weak and broken will make any bit of difference. We are creating a position within the context of a highly centralised state. I actually believe that this will only serve to disempower voters who will be severely disappointed at the lack of power the mayor that they directly elected has.
Research highlights problems when a mayor with a popular mandate has little power, with voters feeling frustrated and confused. This would be a major step back in recent efforts to engage constituents with local politics and elections.
I understand that sections 30 and 35 provide for the relationship between the mayoral office and central government. However, the Bill does not outline what exactly this entails. I suspect this is merely a PR opportunity rather than an opportunity for any real engagement.
Section 53 also provides the mayor with a power to request and receive information, and a power to request to be consulted. However, there are no real teeth to this either. The legislation does not include a deadline for the receipt of information and consultation. Being a TD, I also have the ability to request information via parliamentary questions. However, this rarely means I ever actually get the information that I request and one can understand why I would be sceptical that this mayor-Government relationship will hold any weight.
From reading this legislation, it is hard to decipher the exact functions of the mayor and of the chief executive. We should have a list of existing executive functions and I am not sure why this was not established before the legislation was introduced. It seems like many functions will remain with the chief executive, but the lack of clarity and cultural issues within councils will no doubt cause issues in the future. I am glad that the duty to prepare and present the budget will be transferred to the mayor. However, this should be the responsibility of all elected members rather than the mayor.
It is.
The legislation does not scratch the surface of the local government reform that is so badly needed. It is completely unambitious and does not go far enough in addressing major issues with our local authorities. It is for this reason that I think this legislation will fail and I cannot support it. I believe that it will ultimately set back the reform of local authority. It will also mean that the people of Limerick will wonder is this form of mayor what they voted for.
Before calling Deputy McNamara, I remind Members that this business is scheduled to finish at 7.06 p.m. I welcome members of the Ireland Canada Business Association who are in the Public Gallery with Deputy Stanton.
I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I suppose the Ireland Canada Business Association will be presented with a view of Ireland which sounds remarkably less corrupt than the view portrayed by Deputy Ring. Listening to him, while one might question why there has been such little change in recent years, it is hard to disagree with him. I do not mean corruption as regards people taking money that they are not entitled to but corruption in the use of power, in particular, in stymying the will of people as expressed through their freely elected representatives, because the two most powerful people in this Chamber undoubtedly are the two people to the Minister of State's right. I do not wish to bring too much attention to them. They are civil servants doing their job. There is a woman who was a very dedicated public representative. I will name her; it is not a bad thing to say. Ms Patricia McCarthy was mayor of Clare for a long time and a long-standing public representative. I have had many discussions with Ms McCarthy of late and she consistently asks who would want to be an elected representative now and that if one wants power in Ireland, one should join the Civil Service because that is where power resides. There was a meeting on Monday of Clare County Council about this, proposed by another very long-standing county councillor, Councillor P.J. Kelly. He was elected before I was born, and his political career will probably last a lot longer than mine. Councillor Kelly was very critical of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell. This will not come as news to him. I refer to the manner in which the Clare county development plan was amended by an order or a direction that the Minister of State gave at the behest or, at the very least, suggestion of an entirely unelected office, the Office of the Planning Regulator. The only legitimacy that our development plans have is that they are proposed and adopted by the representatives of the people of Clare in the case of the Clare county development plan, Limerick in the case of the Limerick one, Donegal or wherever, but if they do not even have that legitimacy, they completely lack any sort of legitimacy. We wonder why is there such disregard for planning and development, historically and culturally, in Ireland but if there is no sense of public ownership, public buy-in and public ability to determine what the development plan is, of course, people will not buy into it.
There is a lot of resentment. There is a lot of resentment in communities in County Clare, like Carrigaholt, Doolin and Spanish Point, which are doing a wonderful job of developing their areas, notwithstanding any lack of support from central or local government. However, there was no proposal to put in place a sewer system. There is nowhere they can go to even lobby for that. I can raise it in the Dáil or I can raise any matter to do with Irish Water and I will be put on to a helpline and speak to "Bob." I might as well ring Eir, which, if you ring its helpline as a customer, is remarkably unhelpful. Ringing Irish Water is the same thing. There are people across County Clare who think I can get answers for them. I cannot. The county councillors they elected cannot get answers but they tell them to speak to Deputies because they will be able to get answers. They cannot get answers either because we have taken that beyond local government and there is no accountability for it. They are not accountable to anybody.
We got rid of the health boards. There is very little power - and diminishing amounts of power - residing in elected representatives. That has a cost and the price of that is an erosion of respect for democracy. You then see reactionary forces getting elected and people sit back and wonder how and why that happened. It happens when you strip elected representatives of their powers. I have to say I agree with Deputy Ring and how he portrayed this cosy club of senior management in local authorities and how they manage to sit on one another's boards and get elected. Ultimately, they are the representatives of the Department of Local Government, Housing and Heritage in the Custom House. The Department of Local Government, Housing and Heritage does not rock the boat. Ministers go in there and do not rock the boat, because if they do they get nothing at all done as opposed to getting a little done and getting out of there without too much damage. That is how Ireland now works. There is a jadedness and almost a sense of betrayal of democracy and it is a dangerous thing.
I will turn specifically to this Bill. I welcome the creation of a directly directed mayor. I think that all mayors across local government, whether directly or indirectly elected, should have executive powers. However, even this mayor who will be directly elected and will have a mandate has very few executive powers. Section 10 sets out and refers to Schedule 1, Parts 1 and 2. Part 1 refers to a couple of sections of the Local Government Act 2001, with regard to the largely ceremonial powers this new directly elected mayor will have. Part 2 refers to all the powers under the Housing Acts 1966 and 1988, the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Acts 1979, 1992, 1997, 1998, 2009 and 2014, the Planning and Development Act 2000, the Local Government Act 2001, the Residential Tenancies Act 2004, the County Enterprise Boards (Dissolution) Act 2014 and the Affordable Housing Act 2021. Why do people elect representatives to local government? It is to deal with issues that matter to them. What is the big local government issue of the day? It is housing. What powers will the new directly elected mayor of the people of Limerick have to address the housing needs of Limerick? Diddly squat. None. The mayor will have the powers of a councillor but will have no executive powers.
I will address it.
I think I understand the orders and can give the floor to the Minister. I am happy to cede some of my time to him.
I am saying that I will come in at the end. I would not want to upset the Deputy's flow.
I am sorry; I thought he wanted to address me now.
There are very few powers in that regard. Other than housing, what are the other big issues of the day? They are health and policing. The mayor has no powers with regard to health. Any local authority input in health has been removed. There is now a realisation that the removal of the health boards may have been a bad idea and it is going back towards some kind of regional boards. How that will work and, most importantly, who they will be accountable to has yet to be determined. With regard to policing, the new mayor has no policing powers. In fact, the Policing, Security and Community Safety Bill 2023 passed by this House and now before the Upper House even removes the joint policing committees. Instead of extending power to local government and local government representatives, there is a continuing erosion of that power and a continuing inability for local government representatives to hold the executive to account. As I say, that is damaging and is an erosion of democracy because housing is the major issue of the day in local government in Limerick, as it is in many areas. I know Limerick well. I am from east Clare. Limerick was where we went on Saturday mornings into Star Discs on Patrick Street. I have seen how badly served Limerick has been by its own local government and others over the years - more than any other city or place I know. You can compare it to counties Clare and Galway or north Tipperary. Look at the destruction of the medieval city of Limerick that you drive through coming from Clare through Athlunkard. Look at what they have done, or rather what they have not done, with Nicholas Street. They have built a highway through medieval Limerick instead of pedestrianising it. Now they are pedestrianising Georgian Limerick, which is built to accommodate traffic. It seems nonsensical to me but maybe they know better.
With regard to housing, there are no revenue raising powers or even the ability to propose revenue raising powers in this. That is the essence of democracy. I have taken responsibility for decisions I have made, as has the Minister of State, and I have been kicked out. That is the great thing about being governed by elected representatives. You can kick them out if you want. I have been kicked out and I am sure I will be again. However, you cannot get rid of civil servants. I have to say there is no discernible difference in policies between this Government and the last Government. There is no discernible difference in policies before and after 2019 in County Clare, because the power remains exactly the same. It resides with the county manager. That is a problem, and it is causing people to be rightly cynical about it. I know €9 million is being given under the urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, to tackle dereliction in Limerick. I welcome that. However, there is huge potential in Limerick to house people in existing housing stock, as there is in many cities and large towns right across County Clare. The living cities initiative was developed and I tabled a parliamentary question about it. The amount of money claimed was paltry in all areas. In Limerick I think there were just 54 applications in total. There was no breakdown in the amount of moneys given out. It clearly had little impact. I am not convinced that €9 million is going to make the difference required in Limerick. I appreciate Limerick City and County Council. I do not want to be churlish about the work civil servants do. They do lots of good work. However, they do not have a mandate to determine policy. That rests with the people who are elected. Their mandate is to implement policy. To the extent that there has been a huge sea change in Limerick, I welcome that. I am not suggesting that the unelected parts of Limerick City and County Council or of Clare County Council do not do many good things. This is the case in particular around the use of the Derelict Sites Act. That is to be commended in Limerick and it needs to be commended. Even that requires huge amounts of money. If we were to be really serious about it and really develop it, there has to be a power to raise revenue.
I welcome that this Bill has finally come about. I note that Deputy Leddin among others has consistently called for it. However, I hope the Minister will take an open approach on Committee Stage, and not be blinkered by what the Custom House and the unelected powers in this State want.
Everybody wants power. That is the nature of government. There is always this ongoing tension between elected and unelected representatives. However, the people can get rid of only the elected ones and they deserve to be governed by the elected ones that they can get rid of if they do not like them. If we continue with a system where we cannot get rid of policies or attitudes we do not like, we end up with democratic transition not really being a possibility and then we have to prepare for the worst. I would hope that when this goes to Committee Stage, the Government will approach it with an open mind. I have to agree with Deputy Ring about making sure that local authorities are answerable to the Comptroller and Auditor General.
I thank the Deputy. It would be desirable to be able to conclude Second Stage at 7.06 p.m., which leaves us 26 minutes. We have two further Deputies offering, Deputies Connolly and Wynne. Do the Deputies think we will be able to take those contributions and let the Minister of State respond?
I hope so. I welcome the opportunity to participate in the debate. It is an important one. Deputy Ring has left the Chamber. While I agree with a lot he said, his former Taoiseach led the campaign to get rid of the Seanad if I remember. His story was told in a certain way with certain truths in it, told disingenuously. However, I agree with him on the points made about the absence of power at local authorities.
As usual I want to thank the Library and Research Service for their excellent digest of the Bill. The Bill has seven Parts and 60 sections. I have not gone through it in detail but have looked at it quickly. It does not directly affect me in Galway city. It is noteworthy in terms of the power to bring in a budget, which is significant. At the same time, the digest points out that the mayor is to get all of the executive functions that are not listed that remain with the CEO. However, nowhere are those executive functions mentioned.
We will bring those in on Committee Stage.
That is a big gap at the moment.
We said that at the time. I wanted to get the legislation finished.
Okay. I am going to put that aside for the moment and make more general points. I have very mixed opinions on whether this is the right way to approach the matter. I believe it is an absolute illusion that we are giving power to a mayor. I respect the people of Limerick who have voted for it; I fully respect the democratic decision. However, I think it is an illusion that we are now bringing more democracy. We are doing exactly the opposite. Since the day I came into this Dáil I am fascinated by the misuse of language. In my experience at local level for 17 years, I watched first-hand the diminution and reduction of the powers of councillors. In the hundred years, we have reduced the number of councillors, we have reduced the urban councils and we have taken away essential powers. I do not see a reason for having councillors at all, really, at this point. I am saying that in a very cynical way. They pass the city development plan which, as has been pointed out, is overruled by the Planning Regulator. I support the Planning Regulator. I have said on the record of this House that the Planning Regulator role arose out of corruption, out of the findings of the various tribunals that are ongoing in terms of cost. That is where it came from. However, the nub of it is captured there, in that no Government has really trusted councillors. I have my own difficulties and I was a councillor. I have seen many rezonings against planners' advice. Therein is the nub. Do we let local democracy work and give power to councillors to make decisions, or do we not? We have not done that. We have taken power from them. Some 8% of Irish public spending goes to local government as opposed to 23% at EU level. As has been pointed out more than once, we are nearly bottom of the list in terms of democracy or services that we give. Theoretically we deliver 1,105 services on behalf of 30 Government Departments. Theoretically, councils are doing an awful lot but in reality they have absolutely no power except to bring in the county or city development plan. They come under extraordinary pressure then to pass zonings or not, which leaves a lot to be desired. That is the mess we have left them in with no real power.
In my time, we took the waste management power from councillors, disgracefully so. The city council in Galway did its best to bring in a waste management plan at the time. We put an emphasis on zero waste and recycling 23 years ago. Sometimes I get tired listening to myself because I am repeating things. We brought in a waste management plan that was specifically focused on the city and the county. I am listening to these new words such as "the circular economy" 23 years later and, Jesus, Government policy stopped the people of Galway when they led the way through their councillors. The Government led us by the nose and took that away from us. Then there is Uisce Éireann. I do not want to demonise Uisce Éireann or cast aspersions on them. The decision should have never been made. The expertise was within the city councils and county councils and we took it off them instead of building it up. Some 40% or so of the water was being wasted and we did not have enough staff to deal with that. We had all the expertise and then we lost it. We lost all that institutional experience and memory and gave it to Irish Water. Then we blamed Irish Water for mistakes and all sorts of things, when really the problem was that we reduced local democracy. We have done that over and over.
Then we talk about a directly elected mayor. Cork refused it, and Waterford. Galway was to have a directly elected mayor. However, we were punished in lots of ways, were we not? We did not go with the Government approach to amalgamate the city and the county. We were told to amalgamate. Does the Minister of State remember that legislation that was brought before us? I have to thank the Seanad. They stopped it. We were going to make it bigger when really the approach should be going smaller, more local, more in control. When we did not go that way we were punished.
I have correspondence here from the county council. They have repeatedly drawn us in - local authority - finances - population and so on. That is the county council begging us, appealing to us, telling us they are underfunded. The Ceann Comhairle wants me to be quick but it is difficult when I have just got one chance. In case the Minister of State doubts me, on 20 June 2023 they wrote to us pointing out that Galway County Council is one of the worst underfunded councils in the country. They cannot do the work that in theory they are supposed to be doing. This was confirmed by the independent reports that were done at the time of the proposed amalgamation. One of their strongest recommendations was to sort out the finance problem in Galway County Council before any progress could possibly be made on amalgamating the two. Of course it never happened. All of the Deputies have stood together on this one to say it is not possible to provide services from a county council that covers the three Aran Islands, Inishbofin, all of Connemara and further east with a very limited budget. We have campaigned for years to get biodiversity officers, for example. We finally got one on each council. We declared a climate emergency years ago and we had no biodiversity officer until last year. I mention that as a specific example because every time we raised it we were told the post had to be approved by Government. Even in terms of employing staff, the councils seem to have no power whatsoever.
Then I come to housing. The last time we built a public house in Galway was 2009. I deplore the words "social housing". It is public housing and we should open it up for everybody, have controlled rents, extend it and raise the threshold. We did not build one single public house in Galway from 2009 on. We got quarterly reports and in the last paragraph was "construction suspended." It did not start again until 2020 or 2021, and we wonder why there is a housing crisis. On the deficit in democracy, various people have said it.
Just two weeks ago in Sligo, the association that represents councillors nationally made very in-depth presentations on the deficit in local democracy compared with other countries. A presentation from a Dr. Murphy in Maynooth has similarly outlined in a paper comparisons in Europe, broader than the European Union and the Council of Europe, and we are bottom of the list.
I am going around in a circle to say that I am standing here with very mixed opinions on the election of a mayor. My heart and soul tells me a directly elected mayor is the right thing. What could be wrong with giving power to the people? However, to me, it is nothing more than a distraction from the failure of successive Governments to deal with the deficit locally. That is despite Green Papers, White Papers and all sorts of various things. I understand that a commission was proposed in 2014 that would look at how we would give more power to local authorities, but that went nowhere. What happened in 2014 is that we copper-fastened the corporate mentality. Rather than a council being there to serve and to give essential services, that has all gone by the board and we have copper-fastened the very mentality that has led us to a crisis point in terms of climate change. We have profit, corporatisation and a stealing of language. I must tell the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, that I despaired when I was part of a corporate policy group and we were spending hours looking at a corporate plan in a city that was crying out for leadership, housing, health, water and all the other essential services. We were spending hours wasting time looking at a corporate plan. That came from 2014 but it was there before. Then we got rid of the name "manager" and we brought in "CEO". That is not what local authorities should be about. They are there for the people; to be led by the people, with elections by the people and power given to them. I have a difficulty with that given my own experience, but therein is the nub of it. I also have difficulty with governments, because democracy is not perfect. We need to give the power back. They may make bad decisions and they may make good decisions; but the people will decide then. We will empower the people. That is what the Lisbon treaty was to do. Most of it was for the militarisation of Europe and the commodification of every known service and then they put in this little paragraph - I think it was Article 10 - to say that decisions should be made as close as possible to the people. Can one imagine that for cynicism. While we take it away completely, we copper-fasten it in the Lisbon treaty that decisions should be made as close as possible to the people. I could go on as I have eight minutes left but I will give it up.
I want to start by acknowledging the little bit of history being made right now, as this is the first time this new slot for non-aligned Independents is being used. I thank the Business Committee, the Independent Group, the Labour Party, the Social Democrats, and Solidarity-People Before Profit, who generously lent me time over the last year. It was significant to my constituents that I found the time to raise issues on their behalf and for that I was most grateful.
In principle, I welcome this legislation which seeks to put more power in the hands of people who are duly elected by the public to serve them, and out of the hands of the unelected executives or Ministers outside of the county. Any strides that can be made towards redirecting some of the executive powers over an area back into the hands of elected officials should be embraced fully by this House. Giving the people of Limerick more of a say into how their local authority is run and how funds are directed and spent is incredibly significant and should be celebrated. As Limerick is our nearest neighbour, I strongly welcome the decision to include the chief executive of my local authority, Clare County Council, on many of the committees that the directly elected mayor will chair. I hope that, as this Bill moves through this House and the Seanad, we will also see a seat given to the cathaoirleach of Clare County Council on these committees. It is so important that we respect our elected members in local authorities and respect the decision-making power that they have and the work that they do. The mandate they are given by being duly elected by the people is significant. This place at the table should not be underestimated. I wish the prospective candidates who are currently considering this role the very best.
On the point of hearing and, more importantly, listening to and engaging with the decision makers on a local level, I spent last Monday with the 28 duly elected members of Clare County Council. The assembled members called me and my fellow Oireachtas colleagues from Clare before them to discuss what they say is the shameful ministerial direction given by the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, which cut the knees out from under our new county development plan. It was an interesting meeting where councillors from all parties and none, including the parties of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell and of the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, voiced their disdain and disgust at the heavy-handed decision that will serve to block planning permission across large swathes of County Clare. The councillors, executive, Oireachtas Members, stakeholder organisations and thousands of constituents across County Clare worked painstakingly on drafting this plan and it was disgraceful for the Minister of State, Deputy O’Donnell, to come along with his red pen and effectively erase some of the most significant provisions in the plan. I deal with constituents every single week who want to build their forever homes on their own land and they are continuously blocked from doing so by this Government. If it is not increasing the VAT on concrete products or making a hames of An Bord Pleanála, it is going after rural Ireland and making it next to impossible to get the planning permission to build a house on one's own land. The Minister of State says the Government is committed to Housing for All. Clare says "Don't make us laugh". Due to the ministerial order, around 113 km of national roads in County Clare are now no longer viable sites for new house building. Some 105 of those are in the west Clare municipal district. This is yet another example of anti-rural policy by this Government, which seems adamant about starving communities in my constituency of basic services and now blocking people from building their own house on their own land. In the words of the councillors, it is now not the Clare county development plan but instead is the plan of the Office of the Planning Regulator, OPR.
We also heard from Macra na Feirme, which outlined that only 6% of farmers are under 35 and that while we are trying to ensure that young farmers are incentivised as much as humanly possible to consider farming as their career path, at the same time we are also hearing from such young farmers that they cannot build their own homes. Some have to rent properties that are not on their farmland. A particular example was given of a young couple with a new baby, who had applied for planning permission on two separate occasions, with serious amendments that should have been considered, but they could still could not get it over the line. The pressure that this situation is putting on a young family is not sustainable or right. Another example was given of a different couple. He is a farmer, and she is a GP. They applied under his name and were refused. They were told to go again under her name, and the planning permission was approved, as the local need was established. In this case again, time was wasted.
A total of five villages in Clare have no wastewater systems. The major concern is that this instrument will see no progress for these five villages. Two were earmarked for inclusion in the Government pilot scheme, namely, Broadford and Cooraclare but it seems that the writing may be on the wall and that the Government will not include them. The Minister of State, Deputy O’Donnell's, Government colleague outlined that the decision will be announced on 9 October. I hope and appeal to Minister of State to make good on previous commitments made in principle.
I welcome this step forward for Limerick. I hope the Minister will see sense when it comes to County Clare and not insist on stagnating our county's development and, importantly, not stagnating the development of west Clare. I appeal to the Minister of State to reverse his decision and review the submissions once again, taking into account the rise in the population that was not factored in. County Clare must be given equity.
Regarding the Bill at hand, I struggle with the transfer of the role of the priomh-comhairleor and why the directly elected mayor cannot also occupy this role. I fear it could result in a power struggle. To be honest, it could also incur unnecessary expense. This Bill is a welcome draft but I believe there is some work to be done on Committee Stage to tighten up some of the relationships between the mayor, the priomh-comhairleor, and the director general.
I welcome the proposal of a mayoral programme. It is important that as this is the first time we are embarking on something like this, we can see and appraise the new mayor's intentions. It would be very healthy as part of this endeavour to see the mayor set out his or her stall for all to see. The power of the directly elected mayor to redistribute priorities and a director of services is something that greatly interests me. Through the proactive work of the chief executive in Clare, we have an entire directorate covering rural and community development, which is essential for an area like Clare. We have seen wonderful work coming out of that decision. The ability of a mayor to run on a platform and then be able to deliver an entire directorate of services to cover that issue is hugely significant. I am hopeful that it will encourage a campaign based on experience and serious priorities, as opposed to celebrity or prestige.
The Bill is historic and I want to commend the work of all involved. As a Limerick man, I am sure it is a proud day for the Minister of State, the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, the former Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, and all of those who campaigned for this to finally see the vision moving a step forward and be realised. It is very exciting to play a small part in this process as a Member of the House. The Bill is by no means perfect, but we will fine tune it and make the process the best and most inclusive it can be.
There were 19 contributors to the debate. This is the start of a journey. The Bill will go to Committee Stage and we will get an opportunity to go through it in great depth. This is completely new. Limerick voted by plebiscite. A Deputy made reference to the fact that, unlike Cork and Waterford, the vote went through by a narrow margin. I am conscious this is a major first step. I happen to be a Deputy for Limerick City and it is something of which I am very conscious. This is a draft Bill. People have studied it and want to study it further. I am open to amendments.
When I looked at the Bill, a number of key themes came up. I will touch quickly on an elected mayor for Dublin. Limerick has a unitary system with one local authority. Dublin has four. A general application will not apply. However, it will apply in other areas around the country. This is a blueprint. The Dublin City assembly report has been referred to an Oireachtas committee and we are considering it. The committee will come back in due course.
People made reference to how this will work. It is significant in that it is the first time a directly elected mayor will have a substantive portion of the executive powers of the current CEO. People have asked questions. The new mayor will bring forward the annual budget. I wanted to ensure the current powers of the elected members were retained. The mayor will bring forward a budget, but the budget will be voted on by the elected members.
We have gone with a model which I wanted to ensure would work. There will be a deputy speaker and speaker of the house, but the mayor will be answerable to the house. More particularly, the mayor will have a mandate and will be answerable to the people of Limerick. It will have the means and will have a budget. That is the subject of discussions with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. I have indicated that the budget will be in the order of €8 million a year, or €40 million or more over a five-year term. That proposal was contained in the IAG report and I took it directly.
There is a €200 million budget for the local authority every year. That is a significant capital budget. The mayor will bring forward a development plan and can influence housing policy and strategy. We want the mayor to operate at a strategic level and very much direct matters.
The staff are hugely important. We have to have staff for the mayor who have a knowledge of the work of the local authority. The way I see it happening is very simple. A call will go out through the local authority which comprises a couple of hundred employees. People can apply for jobs. The mayor, along with the CEO, will interview applicants. The mayor will ultimately make a decision on whether to accept an employee. That is the way it works at Minister of State level. I see no difference. These are all practical measures.
I am conscious this is a first step. In local authorities in the UK, members are voting to reverse the decision to have directly elected mayors. We have to get the structures here right. I am giving the mandate to a directly elected mayor and the means in terms of budget and structures. For the first time ever, a mayor will have a statutory right to have meetings with Government under the implementation group and to call in all stakeholders in the region in terms of issues. The mayor will chair community safety partnerships. The mayor will sit on the regional assemblies and LCDCs. For the first time ever, there is a specific section in the Bill whereby the mayor will chair a strategic transport committee. He or she can commandeer all of the stakeholders in the region, at national and local level. The CEOs of Clare are on many committees. I want the process to be strategic.
I welcome the interaction. Anyone who knows me knows I am very independent of mind. I value the work of public servants. They are key. I have a role. I am at this game as long as the rest of the House. I want this to work and it has to work. We want to roll out this system nationally. There is a three-year review. We can look at the timing within that period. I am open to amendments. I have been very open on this. The people of Limerick voted for this. We are all democrats here. People voted by a majority to bring in this. I want to see this come in and elections next year. Good candidates are coming forward. More particularly, I want this to work. When it comes to Committee Stage, I invite Deputies to bring forward amendments. We may not agree on every amendment, but I am very open about what will work. I have made a lot of changes.
We have taken on board virtually all of the structures mentioned in the IAG report. Some comments related to the funding issues, but once again we will have differing views. The main objective is that the people of Limerick voted. I keep going back to that fact. I have followed through on many of the changes recommended by the IAG and the joint committee, and having heard from people, including officials. Ultimately, the decision on this Bill is a decision I made in my delegated functions as Minister of State for this area.
We want to get this right. That requires all of us working collaboratively. This has to be a partnership model at local and national level. We cannot operate in isolation. I want the mayor to be able to drive forward Limerick City and Limerick. In changing the scheme, I took out any reference to dividing rural and urban Limerick because I see us as one, which is critical. Furthermore, I want to acknowledge the work of my predecessors in this role, the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, and Deputy Phelan. This is about democracy in action. I look forward to Committee Stage. I expect that to be very robust because that is the essence of what we do. We may not agree on everything, but we want to get to a point where we have a good piece of legislation. We will look to make changes over the three-year period. I commend the Bill to the House. I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for her indulgence in allowing me to conclude. I look forward to engaging further with Deputies on Committee Stage.
Question put and agreed to.