Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-15
============================================================

Peter Burke (FG), Longford-Westmeath

I thank Deputy Timmins for raising this very important matter. Like him, I served many years as a local authority member and I was also privileged to be cathaoirleach of my county in Westmeath. I got a huge amount of experience through the process. I am always very much aware that local government is the closest arm of government to the citizen, with the more than 1,100 services it provides in many sectors of society. They are absolutely key and they are upheld and fought for by our local authority members throughout the country. This is why, when I was Minister of State with responsibility for local government I prioritised making improvements by introducing maternity leave for female councillors, which was so important, and bringing about proper pay and conditions for local authority members. I am very much aware of the challenges they face, particularly in our modern era when devising county development plans, local area plans and all of the strategies that local authorities are now obliged to have under primary legislation.
Notwithstanding the 180 powers in the reserved functions they have, erosion has taken place in many sectors and many areas of our local authorities. I know from working with my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, that he is doing great work in the local government sector. The Government established a task force on local democracy back in June. This has been working to progress and bring proposals forward. It held its inaugural meeting on 26 June and has met on seven occasions to date. It will meet again this afternoon. The Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, will be in very close contact and will be watching over the reform proposals therein.
I am absolutely a strong supporter of local democracy and of our local authority members, of all parties and none, and the great work they do throughout our country. I would be very supportive of additional powers for our local authority members. We are very clear about the work they do. In many cases, and I know this from my work on local government, local authorities in particular are first responders. If we look at the Ukrainian crisis, when thousands of people came to our shores, local authorities were at the very forefront. We can look at the global pandemic and the work they did. We can look at any of the significant weather events that hit our country. Local authority workers, and particularly our ground staff, are often out there risking their lives, trying to ensure that people can get to work safely and that our local communities can function. A huge debt of gratitude is owed to all of our outdoor staff and all of our local authority members who work tirelessly to ensure we have stronger communities. They are working to plan how infrastructural investment takes shape in our communities through county development plans and local area plans.

---

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/dail/2026-01-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:30+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-15