So much for ‘less quangos’ vow

In 1999 the Irish people passed the 20th Amendment to the Irish Constitution, the purpose of which was to recognise the constitutional importance of local democracy in the form of local councils and& local government.

Shortly afterwards the people of Cobh, Co Cork had to pursue a gruelling 10-year campaign to block Indaver from building an incinerator across the bay from their homes and schools, when the Fianna Fáil/PD government tried to railroad it through, via quangos, over the heads of the County Development Plan, the county manager and local residents’ wishes.

Similar fights with central power occurred in Rathdown and Boyne Valley. Then the whole country was obliged to vote twice on EU referenda when the Government didn’t like the result. Since 2011 Fine Gael began a programme, started by their predecessors, of dismantling local democracy and centralising even more power in government hands.