Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent) | Oireachtas source

These are important discussions to have. I lead the Civil Engagement Group in the Seanad. We are a group of four Independent Senators: Senators Frances Black, Eileen Flynn and Lynn Ruane and me. While we are Independent, we have a number of principles in common. One of the key ones - it brought us together, in fact - is the desire to strengthen links between civil society and politics and to deepen and widen the practice of democracy in any way we can see. The closest point for democracy for most people in Ireland is local government. Unfortunately, that point moved a little further away when we lost the town councils. That was a mistake. Anything that moves decision-making further away from people is a mistake. When I talk to people about politics and policy and encourage them to get involved, sometimes they may be alienated from believing in politics and policy and their potential and possibilities. I always say that politics and policy are the decisions we make about how we live together. That is all they are. That is at local level, at national level and right up to international level. That is why things like the sustainable development goals are really important. They are a blueprint for how we could live together better and more sustainably at local level, at national level and on this shared planet.

Unfortunately, in Ireland, decision-making about how we live together at local level has been absolutely hamstrung and limited. Executive decision-making in local government has been extremely undemocratic. It does very little to foster community empowerment or strengthen democracy. The Council of Europe has confirmed this in a report expressing concern. Members, I am sure, will be very familiar with the report. It refers to the fact that Irish local authorities have limited decision-making powers, with a huge imbalance of power between the elected councillors and the chief executives, which leads to a democratic deficit, and that Ireland has the most centralised system of local government in Europe. New functions and responsibilities are being transferred but, in fact, the power to manage those public affairs and responsibilities does not often sit at local level. This means that Ireland is not really compliant with the principle of subsidiarity, the idea that decisions should be made at the closest possible point to the citizen. Crucially, the Council of Europe recognised insufficient financial resources and autonomy for local councillors and the fact that Ireland's local authorities have significant financial constraints, which severely limits their ability to provide services and respond to local needs, local vision and the local ideas of what a place could be and should be.

I come back to some of these issues and the solutions we believe it is really important to look at. It is fundamental that we look at the likes of directly elected mayors. Directly elected mayors will build a connection for citizens, but what is really important is that they are not just figureheads. What we are actually talking about when we talk about this and the taking of power back is strengthening the power of both mayors and councils rather than the huge allocation of powers to chief executives, who ultimately do not have that mandate in the same way and have a responsibility to government and to their employers, effectively, rather than to those who elected them.

As regards financial resources, I personally support the property tax measure, but these are inadequate and problematic measures. As regards the issue of how they should or could be applied progressively, not enough discretion is given to councils to find progressive ways to move these forward.

There are also other areas we need to look at. One of the key issues with vacant sites and derelict sites and the new land tax valuation is the fact that the moneys raised will not go to local level or be used at local level, and they should be. Also, a hotel room tax needs to be looked at and has been looked at in other parts of the world. I think in San Francisco it is ring-fenced for culture and community spending.

There are a number of other ideas we could look to. I see I am running short of time already, but there are many ways we could strengthen and address each of those three issues: the strengthening of powers, dealing with centralisation and remunicipalisation. I do not have time to dive into the third but it needs to be named as something that could be very significant and transformative at local level.

I want to highlight planning because it is really important. Planning is part of democracy. It is part of deciding about how we live together and what the place we share is like. Unfortunately, we have seen a huge erosion recently and under this Government of powers at local level from changes arising from the Land Development Agency, whereby councillors were prohibited from attaching conditions to the transfer of land and the local level was skipped entirely as regards retention and extension of planning permission. Crucial are the proposals now before us in respect of the planning Act, such as moving from a six-year to a ten-year development plan, which will effectively mean that some elected councillors will never get to have a say in the really important thing they are elected to do, which is the plan for their area. Local development plan provisions have been overturned. We have seen that in South Dublin County Council's wise policy against data centre development, which was overturned by central government.

I want to mention sustainable development goals and climate because they are global areas where there can be local leadership. We saw that across America in C40 Cities, which we are still not in. They may seem like global-level issues, but with the proper powers local councils can lead on them.

Finally, one strong thing we do have going for us in local democracy in Ireland is that people still care and we see so many people who put themselves forward for election. We have one of the highest levels of candidacy anywhere in Europe. That needs to be matched by the powers, the resources and the respect for those who show their respect by standing.