Save millions by shaking out wasteful local authorities

WHILE the Government struggles to cut costs in essential services like health and education, it continues to miss an open goal that can deliver ongoing annual savings of hundreds of millions of euro.

Genuine reform of local authorities has never been attempted, but it needs to happen if we are serious about eliminating waste and duplication in our struggling economy.

A white paper in September lifted a corner of the rug and then dropped it back again, afraid to offend the party hacks and wannabe politicians at local level with their snouts in the expenses trough. It suggested the “sub-county tier” was “ineffective, lacks focus and is not delivering for the citizen”. I couldn’t agree more, so why have the dozens of glorified residents’ associations that describe themselves as town councils not been abolished already?