Abolition of town councils an ‘unmitigated disaster’
Louth TD Imelda Munster has called for the process to re-establish town councils, which were abolished under the Labour and Fine Gael coalition government in 2014, to be put in motion.
Speaking in the Dáil last week, Deputy Munster spoke of the damage caused to Louth towns since the councils was abolished.
Deputy Munster claimed; ‘ The abolition of the town councils in 2014 was an unmitigated disaster’ for local government and accountability.
‘ The Act wasted a valuable opportunity to effect real change. It did bring about change, but that change was a negative one.
‘ Towns have been left behind, abandoned and neglected since their councils, whether they were town or borough councils, were abolished.
‘Municipal districts and their meetings are now a toothless tiger. They do not even have a budget.’
Deputy Munster also spoke of the financial aspect of the Act, saying that claims by the Minister for Environment of the day, Phil Hogan, had apparently not come to pass.
‘ The Department claimed in a statement prior to the introduction of the Local Government Reform Act 2014 that savings of €15 million to €20 million per year would be achieved through the abolition of town councils.’
‘I requested information in a parliamentary question on the annual savings achieved each year since the introduction of the Act in 2014. I sought the relevant, quantified data relating to those savings, in tabular form, but the Department refused to give them.
‘ The Fine Gael and Labour parties have made a complete hames of local government structures and they are directly responsible for that.
‘ This Bill could easily allow for a wider range of topics for review by the proposed commission. The thrust of the Bill is correct’