Tag Archives: Council

Local Democracy Ard Fheis Motion

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My proposing speech on local democracy motion:

That this Ard-Fheis calls for the implementation of measures that would provide for greater participation in local democracy. (Sallins Cumann, Kildare North)

Opening

Minister, Teachta Daila, Senators, A delgaidi, etc etc,

It is a great honour to address this Ard Fheis.

Intro

In proposing this motion I intend to address a twin track of public representation and more generally citizen involvement in public institutions and volunteer sector as a whole.

Public Rep versus Private Employment

Delegates I put it to you that current structures preclude large sections of today’s society from involvement in local democracy be it at elected representative or volunteer activist.

Pressures of Modern living including commuting, raising a family, increasing demands of the workplace make it difficult for all but the most motivated individuals to find time for participation in community activity.

Furthermore we risk alienating a significant pool of talent from the ranks of public representatives if we fail to recognise the conflict that exists between private employment and public representation, certainly at local authority level.

The duties of local representation encompass a significant weekly workload, an availability of contact and access to constituents as well as journalists and other stakeholders as well as regular meetings to conduct official council business usually scheduled during business hours.

However council business is still largely regarded as an honorary or part-time occupation certainly for remuneration purposes.

Town Council is regarded as entirely a position of honour whilst after expenses county or city councillors take away perhaps one fifth the salary of a senator certainly not a living wage.

All of this poses great challenges for any individual who must combine private employment with public duties both through financial necessity and because the nature of their occupation does not lend itself to availability during business hours.

As a consequence demographics of the body politic are not fully reflective of the greater public, the majority of whom are 9-5, PAYE workers, as only certain professions can accommodate the demands of public service.

Arguably it also denigrates the representation of citizens where advocates must juggle demands of external employment with public representation as priority conflicts are not easily reconciled –

This also leads in many cases to a dilemma of double-jobbing –
And in a crisis who comes first – the boss or the constituent?

Delegates I believe the remuneration levels for councillors should be revised and made reflective of the workload and demands of the position. If we are to attract candidates from the broader demographic spectrum this is a necessary step.

In the meantime I believe there are certain measures which could help reconcile the conflict –
Council business, certainly official meetings, could be made analogous to Jury Service or training with the Reserve Defence Forces for example which currently enjoy special status.

Legislation mandating the release of employees attaining positions in public service to mandatory leave facilities akin to parental leave legislation could be enacted.

Citizen Involvement

Broadening the argument to general citizen involvement an overlapping series of initiatives could be piloted to enable greater participation in community or council activity for both elected officials and general citizen involvement.

Whilst there is no substitute to face-to-face meetings for key decisions or introductions, web technologies offer many possibilities for remote conferencing and for online collaboration reducing the dependency on meetings and physical presence.

Individuals on a team can participate at times of own preference, collaborate on documents, posting opinions to web boards, using internet technologies for both remote meetings and to bring together offline contributions.

Also as corporate social responsibility grows in importance in the private sector, employees could be encouraged to participate in community activism with support from employers. Similar programmes already exist towards many charitable activities such as the Junior Achievement organisation where employers allow employees time to work in

There is no reason this could not be rolled out to community and local government participation.
Public sector employers could lead by example in this regard.

Other options may include financial allowances such as tax credits for involvement in public service duties.

Conclusion

Delegates let us recognise the increasing role and workload our councillors perform and let us adapt to the demands of changing modern society. I propose that councillors should enjoy sufficient remuneration to be freed from secondary occupations and in doing so that we acknowledge the huge contribution they make to local and community process.

We would also enable a currently under-represented generation and demographic to embrace the political process.

I believe this would enhance our party, our councils and our communities in the process.

Residents win battle for green space (sort of)

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Just a quick update on what happened re the green space (at Sallins Pier/Sallins Wharf). The residents mounted quite a battle (a copy our petition is here) and we turned it around from majority of the area committee (4 to 1) ready to back residential zoning at start of the week to majority on the area committee (the same 4) in favour of reaching a compromise which is what happened in the end.

We would have liked to secure full amenity but the argument given by councillors (across all parties) against doing that was the threat of a compensation claim by the developer. The detail of this is still not clear but it does seem there were some technicalities around the zoning. As the land was always zoned residential (up to and including last Monday) to zone it full amenity as per the residents wishes (and county managers) would have constituted a ‘down-zoning’. That is the land is less valuable. Now since the 2000 planning act this is permissible but the condition is that the land be idle for at least 5 years (undeveloped). It was a “use it or lose it” clause brought in (by an FF govt in fact) to prevent speculation artificially driving up price of land.

The land in our case was idle for over 5 years but the builder would maintain (with strong case) that it was only so because the council had reserved it for the bypass for 3 of those 5 years. So not cut and dried.

Anyhow between the compensation threat, the builders lobbying and the residents lobbying, by the meeting on Monday a compromise was being pieced together on the area committee. The end result was that 3 acres would go amenity (a change in zoning) and 2 would remain residential. There are still open questions and we’d like him to finish the old estates before he starts a new one but the full planning process will still have to be followed in any event. I’d like to thank anyone who participated in the campaign and thank those councillors across the spectrum who took time to listen and consider residents concerns. If I do make the chamber next year I’ll have a few working relationships on all sides the house already!

Last Orders for Local Area Plan

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The consultation period for Sallins local area plan closed today. A number of representations I’d made to the council over the previous period were contained in the eventual draft so I was already quite pleased with the shape of the plan when it issued for consultation. Nonetheless I made a final submission today reiterating some key points and highlighting where omissions still existed.

In brief I covered the following areas:

  • Sallins Bypass Route
  • Road Reservation and Green Space
  • Parking within village (casual and commuter)
  • Amenity and Waterways Developments
  • Civic needs and security
  • Protected Structures
  • Pavement Improvements
  • Traffic Management
  • Disability Access
  • Canal Moorings
  • Cemetry Provision
  • Recycling Bays
  • Public Transport
  • Market Square
  • Educational Needs

    • My full submission is available in Word format here or I reproduce a text only version below: Continue reading →

    Demographic Deficit of local government

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    Amidst all the furore over ministerial salaries of late, it is easy to overlook the great and grave ‘democratic deficit’ that persists at the level of local authorities.

    It remains very, very difficult for ‘ordinary citizens’ to take on the role of local office. Not so much getting elected, which is a challenge in itself financially and otherwise, but also the nature and demands of the position once one does make the cut.

    County Council business is conducted as an entirely day-time exercise, meetings of committees and sub-committees can stretch into many hours and days each month, all during “9-5″ slots. Very few employments will allow this flexibility to come and go as the council demands, yet the annual stipend remains around €15,000 a year. Allowances and expenses can vary but for most representatives the job barely hits minimum wage.

    Áras Chill Dara
    Áras Chill Dara, home of Kildare County Council

    What all of this means is that certain occupations or the independently wealthy are disproportionately present in local office – the ordinary citizen must hold down a day job which is simply not compatible with conducting council business – particularly now in the modern era of commuting, with increasingly long hours and mortgages and childcare to boot.

    And so for the most part, the demographic of local ‘representatives’ remains neither representative of the population or of the real world.