Return of town councils is shot down by taskforce member
Cllr Damien Ryan is a member of the local government taskforce.
A Mayo councillor who is part of a new local government taskforce does not believe a return to town councils should be considered.
Cllr Damien Ryan made the comments at the annual general meeting of the Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District (MD).
“The area that we represent here is the same size as Co Roscommon and that puts it into perspective. There is an ethos here and a practice of consultation, collaboration and co-operation and it serves this MD well,” said Cllr Ryan.
Cllr Ryan is among the 14 members of a new Government taskforce that is examining how local government is run.
Councillors from Castlebar, Ballina, and Westport have previously bemoaned the loss of town councils. While Cllr Ryan acknowledged that there are issues in some of these towns, he does not feel a return to town councils should be pursued.
“Better Local Government has served this area famously well. Heretofore we had no funding mechanism, we have since the MD was set up, There has been criticism of some of what previous Minister Phil Hogan did but the Better Local Government Model has worked famously well. I think this MD is an example of how it has worked. There is always criticism and asks to return to town councils. I don’t believe that is the way to go. I do believe that there are vacuums in town and we need to look at why that is done,” said Cllr Ryan.
He contended that the efficient functioning of the Claremorris-Swinford MD can be a ‘prototype’ for local democracy. He called for an end to the ‘rural versus urban’ divide that has been created.
“The problems where I see them is that there isn’t enough devolution of power from central level to MD level. The one way you crystallise that is that you devolve finance with it. We shouldn't have competition where it’s urban versus rural. If you look at Active Travel, we now have competition where the towns are outweighing the villages. That’s totally wrong. Both should excel, and both should have their own stream of funding," he said.
