Strengthening local government

A chara, – I was interested to read Paul Gillespie’s article about local government and local elections in Ireland (“Overworked, older and mostly male: Ireland has Europe’s weakest local government”, Opinion & Analysis, April 13th). I found myself nodding along as I read it. The points raised might be more suitable to cover in the run-up to the next general election.

It is national politicians and government who have power to reform local government. I hope that there’ll be serious media coverage of local government reform when the people are next asked to elect TDs. We lowly councillors will continue to exercise those functions bestowed on us by central government.

Reform or not, I’m still looking forward to local election media coverage focussing on what councillors actually do in our roles. We will also continue to proudly advocate for our constituents in areas we have no direct control over, as most councillors do this role out of a desire to do right by our communities. At a quarter the remuneration of a backbench TD, it’s certainly not for the money! – Is mise,

Cllr OISÍN O’CONNOR,