NEWLY ELECTED COUNCIL FACES SIGNIFICANT CHALLENGES

SPEAKING AT THE inaugural meeting of the newly elected County Council Cllr Declan Bree said: "Today it is commonly agreed that the Irish local government system is the most constrained, narrow-based and weakest systems of local government in the European Union.  

"The disgraceful decision by the Fine Gael/Labour government to abolish local self government in Irish towns and boroughs has further reduced the level of accountability in the administration of local government  

"Local Government, as it is normally known in the rest of Europe, actually doesn’t exist in Ireland.   Ireland puts a lower proportion of its public spending through local authorities than any other European country.   Local Government in Ireland performs a more limited range of functions than anywhere else in the EU, and thanks to the government and Minister Hogan and the mandarins in the Department of the Environment, we now have the smallest number of local authorities per capita in the European Union.

"In recent years elected councillors have consistently lost powers over road plans, waste management plans, waste charges, the provision of water and waste water services and many planning functions.  Even the decisive role which councils once had over their Annual Budget and over City and County Development Plans has been greatly diminished.   

"In most European countries functions such as Education, Health, Policing, Transport and Traffic are normally delivered and overseen by City, County, Regional and Local Authorities.    However in Ireland decisions relating to these matters are made by unelected bureaucrats, quangos and officials, where there is little or no real democratic accountability.

"Ultimately it is the people, who are being left powerless.

"As we face into another term of austerity it is very clear that those of us elected to this new Council have significant challenges ahead of us." Cllr Bree declared.