The purpose of this Bill is to extend the manager plan of local government to the counties. Within the last ten years, that plan has been adopted for the four principal cities and the Borough of Dun Laoghaire, and the people in these areas have had experience of the system under which administration is carried on by an elected council and a manager. It is considered the time is now ripe for organising county government on a similar model.
In this country, local government by representative bodies is comparatively modern, and the form in which it was set up was a close adaptation of the form of organisation as it existed in England. Forty years ago, when the Grand Juries were replaced by elected bodies, the new authorities then created corresponded both in their names and functions to local authorities on the other side of the Irish Sea. I recall these facts in order to remind the Seanad that we are not seeking by this Bill to uproot an ancient system that has been evolved in this country in the course of centuries. We are, in fact, continuing a process of reforming the system which we took over, a process which has been going on since the State was established.
The Bill has been criticised on the ground that it is undemocratic. This particular criticism arises, I think, from a mistaken idea that representative government in local affairs can only take the form in which the elected council is both a deliberative assembly and an executive body. The essence of democratic Government is that the people should have the final control. This Bill does not diminish the ultimate controlling power of the people, but it provides for the carrying on of public business in a way which is more in accord with the aims and principles of representative government, and certainly more in accord with common sense and the normal practice in the conduct of large business undertakings.
It cannot be seriously maintained that a council or committee of 20, 30 or 40 members, as the case may be, meeting at intervals, is the best means that can be devised for the management of the day-to-day business of an administration that involves multifarious details and large expenditure. The real function of the elected members should be not to perform executive duties, but rather to control expenditure and determine policy. Under our existing system, the responsibility for administration is spread over the whole elected body and for this reason is diluted, and sometimes dissolved altogether, so that no one man stands visibly before the public as directly and wholly responsible for what is done.
In some of the most democratic countries in the world—in the United States, in Scandinavia, in Switzerland —the system of management which places control of the details of administration in the hands of an individual has been adopted and is not regarded as undemocratic. I think, then, that much of what we have heard in the last six months of this measure tending to local dictatorship has no real foundation, and must arise either from ignorance of the provisions of the Bill or confusion of thought.
I have referred to this aspect of the Bill at perhaps more length than it deserves, but I think it is as well at the outset to clear our minds of some of the cant about stifling local government which we have heard in connection with the Bill. I am not seeking to justify this measure by theoretical considerations of the proper form of local government. Of themselves, these considerations, however cogent, would not afford sufficient reason for scrapping the existing machinery if it were working smoothly and to the general satisfaction. But it does not work satisfactorily. Fourteen years ago the Poor Law Commission, having taken evidence throughout the country regarding the working of the boards of health, recommended that they be abolished and their duties transferred to the county councils working through paid officials in entire charge of the poor relief services in the same manner as a county manager.
The present Bill implements that recommendation and extends it, as no doubt the commission would have wished to see it extended had their terms of reference been wide enough to cover the whole field of local government, by providing for the appointment of a manager for all services of the county councils and elective bodies. Nobody can read the evidence quoted by the commission and not be convinced that the boards of health were unable to cope successfully with the many matters that came up at their meetings for decision. The expansion of services and the growth of expenditure have given rise to problems of management that can only be handled by whole-time, experienced and responsible administrators. This Bill provides for the appointment of persons who will be competent to discharge the executive functions, and makes them responsible, and thus will ensure that side by side with a representative council and popular control there will be skilled management.
The tendency which has manifested itself in our times to combine scattered powers of different local bodies in single authorities is evident in this Bill, which will carry forward the process of unification of services administered by the county council. The functions of the boards of health will be transferred to the county council. It will be remembered that under the Public Assistance Act of last year, poor relief functions of the board will also be transferred as from the appointed day. The functions of the mental hospital committees except in joint districts will also be transferred. It has been thought advisable that on the abolition of committees of management of mental hospitals, visiting committees should be established to perform duties of visitation. These committees will have no powers with regard to management, but they can perform a useful function in hearing complaints and reporting to the county council. The county council will thus be charged with the administration of roads, public assistance, public health, mental hospitals and other county services with two exceptions. These exceptions are vocational education and agricultural services which will continue to be administered as provided for in the Vocational Education Act, 1930, and the Agriculture Act, 1931.
The Bill provides for the distribution of functions between the council or elective body and the manager. Certain functions set out in detail in the Second Schedule of the Bill are reserved to the council. The most important of these is the making of a rate and the borrowing of money. These together with the provisions in Section 24 of the Bill relating to the limitation of expenditure give the council or elective body ultimate financial control. Besides these there are a number of other functions reserved to the council, including the adoption and bringing into force of enactments, the appointment of persons on public bodies, the disposition of property under the Municipal Corporations Acts, the application for public inquiries in connection with boundary alterations, parliamentary and local elections, etc. All powers other than those reserved will be exercised by the manager who will have the control and supervision of the officials. The county council will retain the appointment of rate collectors.
There is provision for adding to the reserved functions, and there are important provisions in Section 28 under which the manager can be required to give effect to their wishes if the local body desire to have a particular thing done and make the necessary financial provision for it. The manager cannot, however, be divested of the control of the officers and employees, or of certain other executive functions mentioned in the section. He will attend meetings and see that the council have all the information, advice and assistance they require.
Every county will have a manager. There is no amalgamation of counties or provision for joint administration, but certain counties have been grouped and the same person will be manager for each of the two counties in a group. The counties grouped are shown in the First Schedule. In forming groups regard was had not only to size and population, but also to the number of towns, institutions, and geographical position. County managers will be appointed on the recommendation of the Local Appointments Commissioners, and there are special provisions with regard to the first county managers under which county secretaries and secretaries of boards of health will be considered in that order before other candidates.
The manager will not only act in county council business, but also in conjunction with every elective body in the county as defined in the first section of the Bill. These elective bodies include borough corporations, urban district councils and certain joint bodies. This will give the boroughs and smaller towns the same type of government as the county boroughs.
Provision is made for assistant managers in Cork, Tipperary and Dublin, but not elsewhere except where the Minister, after consultation with the council, requires the appointment. The Dublin City Manager will be appointed Dublin County Manager, and as such he will become Manager of Dún Laoghaire. He will have two assistant managers who will act both in the city and county. The present Manager of Dún Laoghaire will become a Dublin Assistant City Manager, and the Secretary of Dublin County Council will be given the same preference for a Dublin Assistant City Managership as he would have had for managership of the county if these special provisions had not been contained in the Bill. The position of Dublin City and County under the Bill is analogous to two counties in a group. There is no merging of the administrations.
I have touched on the main features of the Bill. The purpose in view is to make better provision for the government of counties, and I have no doubt this purpose can be achieved by elected bodies working in co-operation with competent managers. Provided popular control is retained, the people are mainly concerned in seeing that local government works efficiently, giving each community the services it is designed to give. This Bill, we believe, will enable local bodies to carry out their tasks more effectually and to the greater satisfaction of the people.