The Twentieth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland provided constitutional recognition of local government and required that local government elections occur at least once in every five years. It was effected by the Twentieth Amendment of the Constitution Act, 2001, which was approved by referendum on 11 June 1999 and Article 28A was signed into law on 23 June of the same year.
Article 28A reads as follows:
“ 1. The State recognises the role of local government in providing a forum for the democratic representation of local communities, in exercising and performing at local level powers and functions conferred by law and in promoting by its initiatives the interests of such communities.
2. There shall be such directly elected local authorities as may be determined by law and their powers and functions shall, subject to the provisions of this Constitution, be so determined and shall be exercised and performed in accordance with law.
3. Elections for members of such local authorities shall be held in accordance with law not later than the end of the fifth year after the year in which they were last held.
4. Every citizen who has the right to vote at an election for members of Dáil Éireann and such other persons as may be determined by law shall have the right to vote at an election for members of such of the local authorities referred to in section 2 of this Article as shall be determined by law.
5. Casual vacancies in the membership of local authorities referred to in section 2 of this Article shall be filled in accordance with law.”
Policy statement issued by the present government in support of its Local Government Bill of 2013
“Local democracy is an essential component of a robust system of representative democracy…Local government involves more than service delivery. Democratic representation and oversight are important elements and local political leadership and oversight can bring greater accountability and responsiveness to local needs than is likely in the case of bodies that operate solely as agents of centralised organisations. A system of local government that is largely representational and lacking significant functions and responsibilities will, however, be hollow…Local authorities therefore…must have substantial functions and responsibilities.”
The Public Right To Have A Voice
The level of involvement of the public in a particular process depends on a number of factors, including the expected outcome, its scope, who and how many will be affected, whether the result settles matters on a national, region or local level, and so on. There is a “ladder” of participation, in which members of the public have the most power—even approaching direct democratic decision-making—with respect to local matters with no impact outside the community. As situations become more complex and involve more global issues and affect larger numbers of people, the role of individual members of the public diminishes and the role of politicians and public authorities that must bear responsibility for such decisions becomes greater. The involvement of the public can pass through various stages as one climbs up the ladder—from direct decision-making to administrative status, participation, consultation, to the right to be informed only. In addition, different persons may have different status in connection with participation on a particular matter. Those who are most affected by the outcome of the decision-making or policy-making should have a greater chance to influence the outcome. This is behind the distinction between “public” and “public concerned.” Clearly when it comes to deciding what is being built next door to you or at least close enough to dramatically affect your health and happiness, you should have the loudest voice.
Local Government and Central Government Relationship.
The relationship between central and local government often displays a tension that mirrors the need and desire of communities to govern their own local affairs, especially their immediate environment, and the will of the central government to impose its national “one size fits all” plan over the entire country. A good example of a one-size-fits-all-plan is the NREAP (National Renewable Energy Action Plan), which is dominated by wind energy and accordingly wind farms (lots of them) are an essential aspect of that national policy.
.But what happens if the locals of a particular constituency do not want wind turbines ruining their lives, health and environment? Can they use the local government structures (City and County Councils) to prevent the central government blighting their neighbourhood with industrial wind farms? In other words, what would happen if a County Development Plan banned wind turbines for example?
Not to government liking
The original Section 31 of the Planning and Development Act of 2000 allowed the Minister to issue directions to a planning authority regarding the content of its draft development plan in certain specified circumstances. In essence these circumstances were where the development plan failed to set out an overall strategy for the proper planning and sustainable development of the area or otherwise significantly failed to comply with this Act. There was no guidance provided as to what constituted a significant failure, but an example would be where a Council failed to adopt a housing strategy in terms of Section 96 of the Act (social and affordable housing). The section was clear that the Minister could only exercise this power in exceptional circumstances where there was a clear breach of the Act (as opposed to any political policy).
Secondly, the power of the Minister only applied in relation to a draft development plan. The Minister had no power to require variation or amendment in respect of a plan already adopted.
In other words, the original Section 31 allowed the local government structures to decide on their own development needs and strategy (the County Development Plan) and the Minister only interfered in exceptional circumstances, namely where there was a clear breach of the 2000 Act.
This was clearly not to the current government’s liking and in 2010, Section 31 was replaced in its entirety by s.21 of the Planning and Development (Amendment) Act 2010 (No. 30 of 2010), with effect from October 5, 2010.
