The independent reviews of local government arrangements in Cork and Galway which I announced in January 2015 form part on an ongoing assessment of potential reforms which may be warranted beyond those measures arising from the Action Programme for Effective Local Government (2012) and provided for in the Local Government Reform 2014 Act.
The provisions of the 2014 Act, including those relating to the merger of city/county councils in Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford, only came into effect on 1 June 2014. Accordingly, 2015 will be the first full year of the operation of these and other significant changes in the local government system, such as the establishment of municipal districts and a range of new governance arrangements. In the circumstances, it would be premature to attempt a comprehensive assessment of the financial or other impacts of these changes at this stage.
However, it is important to view the benefits of merger in terms of the broader objectives of local government reform such as addressing issues and anomalies relating to boundaries, eliminating duplication and separate administrative processes, reducing staff numbers in senior management grades, achieving economies of scale and improving efficiency and service delivery, rather than the partial focus on expenditure reductions.
