There are thirty four county and city councils in Ireland. In addition, some 80 towns have a local town or borough council. These smaller councils are effectively part of their bigger brothers at county level so realistically when it comes to discussing local government in Ireland we have one of the most restricted in the OECD in terms of authorities and numbers. For example Denmark, with a population of c5 million has 98 councils with 2522 councillors, Ireland with a population of approx 4.6 million has (effectively) 34 councils with 883 councillors. Despite common perception, our elected member numbers are, as a result among the lowest across Europe. The Irish local government is one of the smallest public services in Europe and contrasts with the systems found in more successful economies such as Sweden, Finland, the Netherlands and, of course, Denmark.
Nonetheless in recent years the Irish local authorities have seen their range of service responsibilities expand so that much of what they provide is similar what other local government systems in Europe provide. This includes, among others, the provision of the local democratic framework, an essential feature of sustainable communities across Europe, and facilitation of both public and private investment ranging from sewerage systems to local incubation units to direct investment in local producers and tourism facilities. In fact, very little local investment now takes place without some resourcing from the local authorities. Irish local government bodies, under the provisions of the Local Government Act, 2001 are now free to run, facilitate or lead, activities as diverse as local radio stations, Irish premier league soccer teams and various industrial activities including electricity generation, crystal glass production and ferry services. In this role local government has seen an expansion of its functions from being a direct provider of services to now including facilitation of local co-operation among the state and non-state sectors, and of providing the local institutional mechanism for ensuring co-ordination and integration of public service provision. Put simply, the IDA, Enterprise Ireland and other national agencies could not function if the local authority system did not deliver on its critical role as a leader for local economic, social and cultural development.
There are however, notable differences with their European counterparts in that the Irish local authorities do not provide education and public health care. More critically, the absence of local government input to the provision of both services contrasts with other countries where the local planning process is equipped to properly plan for local provision of education spaces and health care need. This is not the case in Ireland resulting in the past in a complete mismatch of supply and demand for such services.
Given the challenges now confronting the Country is it not time to reconsider the role of the local authority? Having a local government system released from the centralised constraints of a 19th century system of British based government could only positively contribute to economic and social renewal as is the case in most other advanced European economies?
There is an almost complete absence of any rational debate about the role which local government plays in Ireland, not to mention its potential for the re-configuration of public services. There is an on-going assumption that moving services towards central models of delivery is the most efficient option. The reality is different, most international studies on centralisation of local service delivery suggest that the further removed from point of delivery a policy-maker is, the greater the likelihood of inefficiency and poor service level. Indeed experiences with the HSE and other nationally driven person-centred services would seem to underpin the internationally accepted perspective on the need to have genuine local accountability and local responsibility for person-centred services.
One of the key new roles of local government (announced in the Programme for Government) is that of facilitator for economic development in their respective areas. The widening and expansion of this role should bring together various local actors to deliver, under the umbrella of local government, local service needs and facilities outside the direct remit of local government. This welcome potential freeing up of local government should further contribute to a renewal of local government. It will only have a substantive impact, however, if all agencies charged with economic development shift their focus towards a genuine effort to underpin local economic development, and entrepreneurial support, something which is a feature of most if not all innovative regions within the OECD.
Irish local authorities currently allocate a greater than average proportion of their own financial resources, when compared to other local government systems. They do so in the virtual absence of any form of national objective or guidance. Fundamentally therefore it is the local authority which is the biggest investor in each town, county, and city in Ireland. The OECD suggested, in 2001, that in Ireland the public service had tended to be risk adverse and so had traditionally acted as a block to economic progression until relatively recent years. Essentially what the OECD recognised is that there was and remains a need for clear policy perspectives at the national level which are then delivered within a local service framework and with local democratic oversight. This is clearly demonstrated through successive public sector reviews in advanced economies such as the Nordic countries, Canada and generally across the European mainland. Ireland, and to a similar extent the UK, remain policy outliers in this regard.
A local government system which is capable of bringing the necessary flexibility to addressing issues such as economic development, as well as meeting the ever increasing expectations of a better educated population is a sine qua non for a successful economy. The question is whether there is a recognition that this also needs to be the case in Ireland if the economy is to grow on a more sustainable basis in the future. The vibrancy of a local government system might be in the extent to which a variety of perspectives are applied to the range of local services in meeting local need. However, the case should also be made that even in systems where there is the freedom to innovate, this is against a set of minimum expectations on the part of the state or the region. Such is not the case in Ireland where even with a centralised, if disaggregated regime as acknowledged by the OECD, such minimum standards are not generally set and therefore very dependent on a willingness on the part of the local political or managerial process to give the level of priority required in meeting national policy expectations.
So what needs to be done?
A range of challenges remain fundamental if a clearly integrated socio-economic process based on democratic principles is to be established at local level in Ireland. Among such challenges the organisation of central government continues to act as a blockage to joined up governance in the State, a truly challenging necessity if we are to get out of the current economic morass. If the implementation of the Programme for Government does nothing else but address this issue, the Country will be better equipped to confront the challenges of economic renewal.
The multi-dimensional role of local government in other countries could bring great potential to re-invigorate the debate in Ireland about how better economic performance can be derived though a re-configured local government system. Most local government reforms to date in Ireland have however been associated with the day-to-day functioning of the system and have arisen as various governments adopted new policies or legislation. The extent of reform relative to other EU member states has not been radical. There is still in place the same basic organisational structure bequeathed to Ireland by the UK authorities in 1898.
Simplistic analysis of public management structures in Ireland has not worked and yet there is a persistence, based on limited consideration and a poor understanding of the dynamic nature of local policy-making practices in other countries, with thinking that bigger is best and that moving away from local decision-making is somehow going to improve matters. Surely if we are to learn anything from the past years, the greater the distance between the delivery of public services from the decisions associated with these services, the greater likelihood that waste will arise. Ireland cannot be so different from other European countries. Perhaps it might be a good idea to look at mainland European models and begin to re-consider our love affair with the sort of disaggregated public management that has landed the country in the mess we are in. If we were to think in such terms at least those responsible for local decisions would become identifiable to the people of Ireland and could be held to account unlike the current conditions pertaining to the organisation of much of the public service in Ireland.
To conclude, one of the essential pillars for a successful national economy, (as demonstrated by the Finns, the Danes, the Dutch and others) is that the local authority system is a central feature of the public policy process. These systems are informed by clear partnership and over-riding democratic principles at local level and are built upon a sustainable development perspective within a strategic framework established by national government. If we learn nothing but this from our recent experiences then at least we might be able to move forward with a greater sense of optimism than is currently the case. There are plenty of examples that demonstrate this to be the case in countries with many similarities to Ireland.
Just once could we not try it?
