Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 May 2016
46. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to review local government with a view to re-establishing town councils in some towns; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11573/16]
Amharc ar fhreagra48. Deputy Shane Cassells asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government to re-establish town councils, given that the new municipal district system has seen local authority spending in former town council areas decrease as a result of the removal of the focused town council structure, coupled with the removal of dedicated block grant funding for these administrative areas. [11530/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 46 and 48 together.
The previous Government’s decision to replace town authorities with a new model of municipal governance was designed to strengthen local government within counties and to address widely acknowledged and long-standing weaknesses and anomalies in the previous system, including divided administration between town and county authorities, for example, in relation to matters such as planning, rating and charges.
In 2015, after one full year of the operation of municipal districts, a broadly based Advisory Group was convened to carry out a review of their operation, in conjunction with a Local Government Forum for engagement with the Association of Irish Local Government. Feedback from these deliberations and from surveys of local authority members and chief executives suggests that the revised structures are generally operating well but will need more time to bed down fully. The work of the Group is proceeding.
In addition, the Programme for a Partnership Government includes a commitment to the preparation of a report for Government and the Oireachtas by mid-2017 on potential measures to boost local government leadership and accountability and to ensure that local government funding, structures and responsibilities strengthen local democracy. This will include consideration of specific issues such as directly elected mayors in cities, devolution of new powers to local authorities, size of local electoral areas, and town and borough councils. The results of the recent operational review of the revised local government structures will provide a key input to inform the consideration of these issues.
On the question of funding for the municipal districts, in 2014 General Purpose Grant allocations to local authorities were made in respect of the local authority area as a whole taking account of any former borough or town councils within the area. To ease the transition of local authorities to new financial arrangements because of the move of water related costs from local authorities to Irish Water in 2014, and funding of local authorities from the Local Government Fund through the introduction of Local Property Tax in 2015, the Government decided that no local authority would receive less income from LPT in 2015 and 2016 than they received from their General Purpose Grant allocation in 2014.
Accordingly, the LPT allocations for 2015 and 2016 take account of the historical General Purpose Grant funding provided to any former borough or town councils within the local authority area. It is a matter for the individual local authorities themselves to decide on their priorities for funding of services.
