So it is official. Ireland's local government system is down there with that in Hungary, the Russian Federation and Moldova.
The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (CLRAE) recently found Ireland to be compliant with only 8 out of 20 principles of the European Charter of Local Self Government according to a new damning report.
I am telling you here first. Soon the officials in the Department of Local Government will be trying to champion the work they did on the Mayor of Limerick legislation as evidence of an intent to improve, even though they have allowed others to do everything they could to emasculate the legislation and thwart the will of the people of Limerick for an executive mayor with significant decision making and associated funding or borrowing powers.
The CLRAE report includes a series of recommendations for Ireland to address the identified shortcomings and bring its practices in line with the European Charter of Local Self-Government. These include implementing an Action Programme rapidly in order to devolve more powers and responsibilities to local and regional authorities and delegate relevant competences and financial resources to the local and regional levels.
CLRAE unanimously adopted the report on 25 October 2023 at their Plenary meeting held in Strasbourg, France.
The independent report declares that “although Ireland is a solid democracy, it remains one of the most centralised countries in Europe” and “there is still a lot to be done before local self-government in Ireland is on par with other European countries”. Ireland was found to have one of the lowest scores under the Local Autonomy Index (LAI), with Irish local government scoring a rank just above Hungary, the Russian Federation and Moldova.
All the more important for Limerick to get this right in the election on June 7th to reset the clock and allow Ireland to move from the bottom of the league table.
You can read more about the report and indeed see the full text at this link. European Body issues damning report
Before you read any more of the bad news, you might want to rewatch this to understand the system we have taken from the British and how we got to be an outlier. I mean after all, even the British have reformed before us.
If the right people don't have power - Yes, Prime Minister - BBC (youtube.com)