An Bord Snip Nua and its very title has many a man crossing his legs in fear but the real pain is not contained within the body’s name but its contents.
‘Independents’ Day’ was the catchphrase of June’s local elections given the success of non-party candidates, many of whom based their campaigns on the wastage of public money and politicians’ expenses.
Well if An Bord Snip Nua has its way even these independents who strove and continue to strive to tidy up spending from the public purse who could get the chop.
An Bord Snip, while admitting that the local government layer of public expenditure is not within their core remit, have proposed that local government needs to be rationalised. To do so they recommend the abolition of both regional authorities and town councils to provide a single local authority tier with a reduced number of local authorities - from 34 to 22. In Mayo alone there are three town councils - Ballina, Castlebar and Westport - with 27 councillors represented on them in total.
While many people believe that it is unnecessary to have nine councillors on each town council, the complete abolition of the town councils is absurd and taking things to the extreme.
Looking at the three larger towns in Mayo, each have their own problems which require the local knowledge of local councillors to decide where funds should be spent.
In Westport they are always trying to attract industry. In Ballina the huge unemployment figures are of serious concern. Castlebar is stuck in the middle with unemployment and a lack of industry plaguing the town but it hasn’t the cushion of falling back on a strong tourist industry like both Ballina and Westport. Would a councillor elected to a regional authority from say for example Ballina really concern themselves with engaging with the IDA to attract industry to Westport. Maybe they would, maybe they wouldn’t, but you’d imagine they would be more concerned with attracting that same industry to Ballina to relieve the unemployment pressures, leaving Westport out on a limb.
Towns need local representation to ensure they prosper and grown in a manner that reflects the history, culture and dynamic of the town. Only a person from that town could understand it’s needs. A rationalisation of town councils could be carried out with a reduction in the number of councillors elected to it and the number of council officials who work for it.
One positive proposal from An Bord Snip is the freezing of commercial rates to alleviate pressure on business in the current economic climate. Another is the elimination of bonus payments to local government staff. But they also consider that local authorities should be self-financing in the longer term and that exchequer support should be replaced with increased revenue general from local sources. One such revenue generator would be charging for domestic water.
While more snipping is needed, the right decisions need to be taken which have a long-term strategy in sight.
