Gormley vows to reform local government
Addressing the opening night of the Green Party’s annual conference in Dundalk last night, Mr Gormley said he was proposing to give the Standards in Public Office Commission “a greater role in policing local councils”.
“It is as much in councillors’ interests as everyone else’s interest. In all of these matters, I have just one motivation: delivering better local democracy which works for local people,” he said.
Mr Gormley expressed concern about two key areas, the first of which was planning: “While I yield to none in my admiration for councillors of all parties, I have also been concerned at times at a number of issues around planning decisions which are not in the best interest of communities.”
This led him to reject the Monaghan county development plan last year, which featured hundreds of contentious land rezonings.
County councillors had earlier approved the plan despite the objections of local planning officials and the Department of the Environment.
“In other instances, my department has had to write to councils in other parts of the country outlining my concerns at certain planning rezoning decisions which contravene national or local guidelines,” Mr Gormley said.
“Thus, I am now examining a number of options to strengthen our planning laws — especially in the area of enforcement.”
His second area of concern was the need to strengthen the “ethics system” governing local authorities.
“At the moment, councillors are required by law to each year declare interests and reveal any potential conflict of interest. But I believe enforcement in this area is weak,” he stated.
In the coming fortnight, he will launch a Green Paper on local government, which will propose initiatives to bring citizens “to the heart of decision-making in their towns, cities and localities”.
The paper will propose that citizens should have a say in budgetary decisions.
“There is no reason why the people should not decide what the spending priorities should be in their communities,” Mr Gormley said.
“I will be examining the increased use of plebiscites, which would allow people shape major decisions to be taken by town, city and county councils.”
The Green conference continues today, with Mr Gormley’s first televised speech as party leader at 8.30pm.
There had been signs in recent weeks that the conference would prove contentious for Mr Gormley and his senior colleagues because of their support for Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
However, in light of Mr Ahern’s pending departure, the leadership expects a much smoother ride.
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