Labour may bring back town councils

Councillors are in line for pay increases and town council structures are set to be reinstated under reforms being considered by outgoing Environment Minister Alan Kelly.

The minister signalled that he wants to roll back local government cutbacks and changes introduced by his predecessor Phil Hogan, which he is not happy about.

Speaking at Labour’s conference in Mullingar, the deputy Labour leader addressed concerns about “shambolic” changes introduced by his predecessor to local government.

Carlow councillor Willie Quinn said the hands of local elected representatives were “tied”. Councillors were more like community workers, he told a session on working people.

“Rural Ireland was on its knees” and changes were needed at a local level, the councillor told the minister. He also warned how council managers were allegedly on six-figure salaries and large pensions.

Mr Kelly responded that he believed more decisions needed to be made at local level when it came to local enterprise and housing.

“Let the councillors say where they want to put houses, how they want to put them, and what type they want. There is an issue in relation to two or three areas.”

The outgoing minister is currently awaiting a report reviewing local government which he said would be completed soon.

He told the Labour meeting: “In relation to structures that have already been put in place by my predecessor, whether they are working or not, I’ve my own views on that. I wouldn’t necessarily be 100% happy with how they are working.”

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Minister Hogan had abolished 80 town councils, which some ministers in government have now come to saying was regrettable. Mr Kelly hinted that he would be reversing these cuts.

“The whole issue of municipal districts — where we do need to actually have town council like structures, for large urban centres — all of that needs to be looked at again.”

But underfunded councillors who have vaster areas to cover since town councils were abolished may also see their payments increased, he signalled.

“We need to look at the balance between CEOs and councillors. Ultimately, at the very end we need to look at the role of councillors.

“There is an issue of balance. With the municipal districts being so big now, you’re almost like a mini-TD in the sense that you have to do so much work, you have to cover so much of an area.

“The whole role of a councillors and defining the role of a councillor, the remit, needs to be looked at.”

Mr Kelly afterwards told the Irish Examiner that special changes could be made to PRSI payments made by councillors. The review on local government would address this, added the minister.

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