Cllr Keith Martin's Blog

My Letter to the Labour Party TDs and Senators

Posted: 20 Jan 2013 06:07 PM PST

Dear Party Colleague,

I write to you to ask for your assistance in opposing the abolition of town councils.

The Minster has repeatedly stated "That there are too many councils and councillors" for a country the size of Ireland.

The fact of the matter is that the ratio is 1 councillor per 118 per head of population per Councillor in France, 250 per head of population in Sweden and 350 in Germany. This rises to 610 in Spain and 1100 per head of population in Greece and Belgium.

In fact only the UK has a lower ratio of councillors to citizens than Ireland.

The reform proposes to make this situation worse by increasing the ratio from 1 councillor per 2,336 to 1 councillor per 4,800. Making us the most under-represented country in the European Union.

The AMAI and An Bord Snip Nua estimate the total saving from abolishing 75 town councils and 700 councillors is just €6 million; that's a saving of just €80k per council.

To put that in perspective, Westport Town Council's annual budget is €5.2 million per year and our Capital account is just under €5m.

The Minister's repeated claims of savings of hundreds of millions are actually derived from cost savings of shared equipment and manpower and the redundancies of 500 Public servants.

The Minister says he is abolishing 80 councils but the truth is he is actually creating more councils than ever before. Mayo goes from 4 local authorities to 5.

In 2011 "The Case for Town Local Government in Ireland in the 21st Century", was carried out by researchers at University College Cork. That study found that town and borough councils are significantly less reliant on central government funding compared to city and county councils, yet are regularly targeted for exchequer cutbacks.

Town Councils, Borough Councils and City Councils which have existed separately for centuries in the interests of savings only, taking in no account the historical, economic, cultural, social and morale impact of such a move. Meanwhile Dublin is to be left as 4 separate local authorities for no good reason.

No effort has been made to differentiate between effective, efficient and successful councils and other less effective councils.

Under the reforms there's no guarantee that the Westport Town Budget of €5.2m will be spent in the area in future and it seems likely that our Capital account of €5m will be used to offset Mayo County Council's €50m debt.

Westport Town Council budget is currently made up of just 15% funding from Central Government. This will be replaced with the new property tax which will mean that Westport Town Council will be completely independent of Central Government funding.

Westport Town Council has, historically always presented an annual surplus in our budgets and has built up a Capital Reserve of €5m.

The cost of the 9 Councillors of Westport Town Council, salaries, expenses, conferences, overseas visits, hospitality comes to less than .75 of a percent.

One County Councillor chairing an SPC and taking full advantage of their conference allowance costs more.

The abolition of Westport Town Council will serve no purpose, save no money and will not put people first. The abolition of an entire tier of local government is unheard of in modern European history.

In relation to the Minister's claims that the new Municipal Councils will be real councils in their own right why does he not count them as local authorities? He has repeatedly stated he is cutting the number of local authorities when in fact he is going to be creating even more councils.

Surely if these Municipal Councils are to be councils in their own right then they should have separate elections? The issues facing the Westport area are different to those facing Mayo County Council. Yet there is a Dual Mandate. These new councils will not even have the power to set a rate.

The truth of the matter is that our party went into government pledging to empower town councils and to create new town councils.

According to our 2009 Local Government Manifesto "Local Authorities (including County, Town, and District Councils) would retain their existing functions, with other appropriate functions to be devolved over time".

According to our Local Government policy, New Councils, "There should be two levels of Local Government: Regional Authorities, which would include City Authorities for the larger cities, and Local Authorities, which would include County, Town and District Councils".

That same policy also proposed that " The distinction between County Councils and the larger Town Councils should be ended. All such councils should have the same status. There would be options available to people as to the type of Council which would exist in a particular area, as between County Councils, Town Councils and District Councils. Where a dispute arises over the inclusion of an area in a council, the issue could be resolved by plebiscite of the voters in that area."

Instead there has been no debate save for a very brief call for public submission. There has been no debate within the Labour Party and as a serving Town Councillor my opinions were not sought nor was I informed of the abolition of my council until it was announced.

There are tough decisions to be made, but we must be sure that we are making them for the right reason. The abolition of Town Councils cannot be undone or corrected at a later date.

I ask for your help in highlighting the myths surrounding the proposals and for your help in opposing the abolition of the councils so that their retention can be built into the proposed reforms and that we deliver a system of local government fit for purpose.

I attach our submission to the Minister which outlines Westport Town Council's achievements and the many reasons why we should not be abolished.

Sincerely

___________

Keith Martin