Frankenstein's Monster

This article appeared as an opinion piece in the Cork Independent on 24 April 2014

 

Mary Shelley wrote in Frankenstein that ‘nothing is so painful to the human mind as a great and sudden change.’ Well, the local government landscape in Ireland has been subjected to a massive change – in fact, the most radical structural change since the introduction of the ‘modern’ system of local government in 1898. Mary Shelley’s book was about an eccentric scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who creates a grotesque creature in an unorthodox experiment. In 2014, it is tempting to replace ‘Victor Frankenstein’ with ‘Phil Hogan’ and ‘creature’ with ‘structure’.

 

The changes to the local government landscape come about because of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 and the report of the Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee from May 2013. The main feature of the 2014 legislation is the abolition of town councils. It is remarkable that since the founding legislation in 1898 we have moved from over 600 local authorities to 114 and now down to 31.

 

Why is it the case that local government lacks protection in Bunreacht na hÉireann? The Seanad – a marginally relevant, elitist institution – could not be abolished without reference to the people by way of referendum. Yet, a whole tier of local democracy and 83 directly elected councils can be removed through legislation without reference to the people. Why have town councils died without a discussion? The Dublin-based national media is complicit in this and their refusal to address local government issues is shameful. Of course, part of the reason for this is that there is only one town council in Dublin, in Balbriggan. Predictably, the media has failed to engage with the town council issue and the only matter which is suddenly gaining some traction in the press is the directly elected mayor for the capital.

 

The 2014 act also brings into effect the recommended changes of the Local Electoral Area Boundary Committee. The Cork City Council jurisdiction remains unchanged and the number of councillors is unaltered at 31. However, there is a dramatic change in Cork county, the largest county in Ireland. Local government representation will fall from 156 to 55 - an enormous drop by any standards. The amputation of the county’s twelve town councils - Bandon, Bantry, Clonakilty, Cobh, Fermoy, Kinsale, Macroom, Mallow, Midleton, Passage West, Skibbereen, and Youghal – removes 108 councillors from the equation. We will then be left with a 55-member Cork County Council (an increase in membership from 48) drawn from eight Local Electoral Areas (LEAs). These new LEAs are Blarney-Macroom: 6 seats; Kanturk-Mallow: 6 seats; Fermoy: 6 seats; East Cork: 6 seats; Cobh: 7 seats; Ballincollig-Carrigaline: 10 seats; Bandon-Kinsale: 6 seats; and West Cork: 8 seats. The biggest change is occurring in West Cork. In 2009, West Cork had 12 county councillors drawn from the Bantry and Skibbereen LEAs as well as 27 town councillors from Bantry, Clonakilty and Skibbereen. As a result of local government ‘reform’ West Cork will be left with 8 councillors covering a huge territorial area.

 

The rationale for these sweeping changes is that Big Phil believes, unsurprisingly, that ‘Big is Beautiful’. I think he is misguided in this belief. International evidence refutes the notion that a smaller number of larger local authorities yields improvements, savings and efficiencies. Instead the evidence from other jurisdictions that have been down this road clearly points to the fact that structural reform and the redrawing of local authority boundaries is not a cost-free exercise and frequently results in dis-economies of scale, especially with one-off costs arising from amalgamations.

 

Back in 1924, the Phil Hogan of the day sought to abolish Rural District Councils (RDCs) in the name of efficiency and cost savings. What was really meant of course was centralisation. During the Dáil debate in 1924 on the proposed RDC abolitions, John Daly TD, an Independent from Cork, asked, ‘What would a man from Bantry Bay know about affairs in Araglen?’ The world is a smaller place today and so it is easy to poke fun at John Daly but he knew what he was talking about. He finished his contribution to the debate by saying – ‘Local representatives know their area best of all and should be given the power to tackle local problems appropriately.’ In my humble opinion, this sentence should be pinned to the wall in every office of the Custom House (home of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government).

 

We are on a slippery slope to almost total centralisation of power and Frankenstein’s monster (if not Frankenstein himself) is out of control.