Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-15
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Edward Timmins (FG), Wicklow

The programme for Government states:
Local Government is the beating heart of our democracy. It is responsible for many of the essential services on which we depend – housing, local roads, planning [and many other things]."
I wish to talk about my experience of over 20 years as a local councillor before I came here and how the powers of the councillor have been diminished.
First is planning. In 2004, I could and did make changes that made a real difference to help rural planning. In 2022, I was told that they must comply with national planning guidelines, so my changes were not allowed. In the 2022 Wicklow development plan, we dezoned vast areas of land because of the Planning Regulator's guidelines. These were based on the outdated 2016 census. We knew we had a housing shortage. At the time, I pointed out how crazy this was but nobody was listening to us councillors at the time. At one stage, the Planning Regulator told us that we could not zone for four houses in a town of 2,000 people. In addition, the section 140 powers for councillors covering planning were abolished.
Housing bodies have taken over much of social housing. They are not accountable to public representatives. As they do not have to sit before councillors at a monthly meeting, the democratic input is further reduced. Water and wastewater are completely outsourced. Again, the responsible body is not accountable before councillors on a monthly basis or through a strategic policy committee, SPC. The number of councillors has reduced from 1,627 to 949 after the changes in 2014.
This is one of the lowest per capita representations in the whole of Europe.
The only significant funding income for current expenditure comes from commercial rates and property tax. All other funding must come from central government. This further limits councillors' powers. The property tax was supposed to bring extra funding to the local authorities but all that happened was that it reduced Government grants. Some councils still do not retain all of the property tax collected and this needs to be addressed as it is simply unfair. I ask that we consider using the taxes that are very much local based, for example, motor tax, the residential zoned land tax and the new derelict property tax.
I understand the local democracy task force met six times and will produce a report in February. I hope it will recommend many of the points in the Seanad report on local democracy of October 2024. I urge the Minister and all of his colleagues to support these recommendations.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-15