Local Authorities Seanad Éireann — 2025-11-25 ============================================================ Seán Canney (IND), Galway East I welcome every guest here. It is an opportune time to listen about local government. I was looking at the young people and wondering how many of them will enter politics in the future. It is an opportune time to listen to local government being discussed here. I thank Senator Gallagher for raising this matter and giving me the opportunity, on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Browne, and the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, to update the House on the local democracy task force. At the outset, it is important to note that the Local Government Reform Act 2014 dissolved 80 town councils, which represented just 14% of the population. This town council system had led to duplication, both in administrative and electoral terms. Instead, the Local Government Reform Act 2014 saw the introduction of 95 municipal districts, representing 100% of the population in 25 of the 31 local authorities at sub-county level, with area committees operating in the three cities, namely, Cork, Dublin and Galway, as well as three Dublin county authorities. Each municipal district can include several towns, villages and their hinterlands, with local matters dealt with at municipal district level and the wider strategic issues decided at county level. The result is an integrated administrative structure in each county which maximises operational efficiency while ensuring devolved decision-making throughout the county. I acknowledge that more work needs to be done to ensure that the potential of the municipal districts is fully realised. As such, the programme for Government recognises the need to strengthen the framework and powers of municipal districts. The programme for Government commits to the establishment of a local democracy task force with the local government sector to finalise a programme for the reform and strengthening of local government. This commitment demonstrates the important role that the local government sector plays in our democracy through the delivery of essential services in Ireland. The task force will bring forward proposals that the Government will consider on matters relating to the structure, finance, functions, governance and accountability of local government. The Government approved the establishment of the local democracy task force on 4 June and it will make its recommendations in line with its terms of reference. The task force is supported in its work through pillar groups. The pillar groups are comprised of organisations that have a strong footprint within the local government sector, such as the AILG, LAMA, CCMA and LGMA, along with Government Department representatives relevant to the particular pillar theme. The task force also undertook a targeted stakeholder consultation process seeking input from a range of stakeholders from across the local authority sector. All submissions received by the task force are publicly available online on the Department’s website. The task force will bring forward proposals in 2026 and I know the Minister, Deputy Browne, and the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, look forward to receiving and considering the recommendations of the task force in due course. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2025-11-25/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:21+00:00 Sitting date: 2025-11-25