Strength of local government is the fact that it is accessible

Why do most countries choose to have a local government system even though there is no imperative to do so?

Essentially, local government exists for two fundamental reasons:

(1) The delivery of public services locally.

(2) To act as a bulwark of democracy and as a safeguard against central domination.

The current local government debate in Ireland is lop-sided in that it is focussed on the economic role of local government, cost-cutting, rationalisation, and efficiency.

If we believe that the primary purpose of local government is economic, ie. the efficient delivery of services, we are accepting that embedded in this model is an implicit political subordination to the wishes of central government. The allocation of service delivery responsibilities is in the gift of the centre and local government’s competencies are clearly defined and limited by statute. Economy of scale inevitably emerges as the dominant idea with abolition of local authorities, mergers, and the creation of larger conurbations.

Under this model, there is arguably no need for local government at all. Everything could be controlled by the centre with local administration.

Such a model ignores the wider role for local government as the mouthpiece of shared community interests with a locality making policy choices in its own name. In this version, there is strong citizen identification with local communities. Such a vision derives from the Principle of Subsidiarity. In its initial formulation this was contained in the 1931 papal encyclical Quadragesimo Anno which stated: “It is an injustice, a grave evil, and a disturbance of the right order for a large and higher organisation to arrogate to itself functions which can be performed efficiently by smaller and lower bodies.”

The Principle of Subsidiarity is contained in the Council of Europe’s Charter of Local Self-Government which the Government has ratified (but not implemented). Subsidiarity is also contained in the Treaty of Amsterdam so, in theory, Ireland is well covered by it.

Last week, the Council of Europe’s Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe came to Ireland to assess our level of local democracy and adherence to the Charter of Local Self-Government. The previous visit in 2001 led to a critical report and the 2012 report will be even more scathing given Environment Minister Phil Hogan’s plans to reduce the number of local authorities from 114 to 31. It seems like a hollow gesture to make ‘Putting People First’ the title of your reform plan when, in reality, your aim is to do the exact opposite.

At one level it may seem an absurdly basic point to make, but the very strength of local government is the fact that it is local and accessible. Within our current system we have a ratio of 35,000 citizens to each council. In France it is 1,600 and in Germany it is 5,400. Bizarrely, with a mere 31 authorities, we are removing citizens even further at a level of 130,000 to each local authority.

In 1954, John Collins wrote a book entitled Local Government in which he argued that local government “is the part of government that is most accessible to the average citizen, that most closely touches him and presents the most opportunities for public service. It is a school of citizenship”. Interestingly, in announcing his ‘reforms’ Mr Hogan used the term ‘consumer’ a number of times but the term ‘citizen’ was largely redundant. Destroying a layer of local democracy and replacing it with a website — www.fixmystreet.ie — hardly constitutes meaningful reform.

The foundations for any national reform programme which sets out to increase accountability, improve public services, and enhance community participation must begin at local level. Central government is not best equipped to grasp the inimitable conditions of each locality. Local government is preferable because locally elected institutions, employing their own specialist staff are better placed to understand and interpret both the conditions and the needs of local communities. If we reconstruct a model of local government based on dispersing power away from the centre then the quality of government and the health of democracy will both improve. Central government and the Oireachtas will also be enhanced, a point frequently overlooked.

John Stuart Mill had a simple, but relevant view of things when he asserted local government should handle local affairs and matters concerning the nation as a whole should be the concern of national government. In Ireland we have never satisfactorily managed to separate local government from national government and ‘Putting People First’ does not leave us in a better position.

* Dr Aodh Quinlivan is a lecturer in politics at the Department of Government, University College Cork.

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