Twelve years after town councils were abolished by Phil Hogan, they are set to make a comeback, but this time as more modest “municipal councils”.
A report from an expert group says that new hyperlocal councils should be established in all of the 31 local authorities, including in cities.
The Local Democracy Taskforce (LDT) was asked by Minister for Housing James Browne to make recommendations for reform of councils, including examining increases in devolved power and also in representation. He is expected to present its report with 79 recommendations to Cabinet shortly.
One of its main recommendations is to partly reverse the abolition of town councils, driven by Hogan, who was then minister for the environment. There were 774 town councillors at the time in 80 town councils in addition to city and county councillors. The role of town councillors was also discontinued. The overall number of councillors in the State was reduced from 1,627 to 949.
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“The Taskforce considers that the re-introduction of the former town council system, as it existed in the past, would be a retrogressive step, and potentially undermine parity between rural and urban areas,” notes the report.
“It is, however, acknowledged that there needs to be a renewed focus on towns as key drivers of activity and service provision for the citizens in their municipal district areas.”
It says that need should be reflected by the establishment of municipal councils in all local authorities, including cities. It says they should have increased decision-making and budgetary powers and the ability to develop town programmes to drive reform.
However, a key difference is that municipal councillors would not be separately elected but would be county councillors operating at a more local level.
“The structure ensures that Councillors make decisions on local matters at municipal level, and continue to decide on wider strategic county-wide issues at plenary level,” it states.
The Irish political system has long been criticised for being overly centralised, with local authorities lacking revenue-raising powers or having sufficient delegated functions.
The LDT report has suggested some new sources of income for councils, a small number of new devolved powers, and has made recommendations about increased representation, given that the population has increased in the decade since Hogan’s reforms were implemented.
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The report has suggested the Government should consider a tourist tax, specifically a levy for overnight stays, as a new form of income. Income from property and land use taxes could be used directly to benefit Councils, it has also stated.
In terms of devolved powers, it has recommended only one specific change: local authorities taking over responsibility for delivering rural public transport programmes.
“In the short term, and to make visible early progress on devolution, priority be given to areas where local authorities already have a significant role, such as housing, local transport and community health and wellbeing including recreation,” it states.
It specifically mentions the TFI Local Link services as an area for exploration and says the Government should consider the option of devolving responsibility for rural transport provision to local government as part of this review.
The taskforce did not consider in its report another thorny debate in local politics, namely an office of executive mayor in the larger cities and counties. John Moran was elected as executive Mayor of Limerick in 2024, but his tenure in office has been marked by high-profile clashes with councillors and senior executives in that local authority area amid uncertainty about who is the primary decision-maker in key areas.
