Local Government in Ireland (2010) (original) (raw)

The Politics of Local Government Reform in Northern Ireland

Local Government Studies, 2009

A major review of public administration in Northern Ireland has resulted in proposals for radical reforms in health, education, and local government services. Although originating from the devolved government of 1999, intermittent suspensions resulted in Direct Rule Ministers taking over responsibility for the review. This article traces the influence of a sizeable body of research evidence on the outcomes of the review, specifically controversial reforms to local government, and the significant influence attached to macro political factors in reaching key public policy decisions. It also highlights the asymmetry in power relations between Stormont and local government and how devolution has simply compounded regional centralism in Northern Ireland.

Institutionalizing the Politics-Administration Dichotomy in Local Government: Reforming the Council-Manager System in Ireland

2016

This chapter examines local government in Ireland, with a particular focus on the evolution of the councilmanager form within the Irish local government system. Strengthening executive leadership within local government is an enduring theme of local government reforms internationally, typically manifesting itself through stronger directly-elected mayors or cabinet-style executive structures. An alternative approach used in some jurisdictions is the ‘city manager’ or ‘council-manager’ model, whereby a non-political manager is given significant autonomy to work within a policy framework established by the elected council. This chapter also examines other reform themes in Irish local government, such as territorial and structural changes, functional and financial reforms, efforts to facilitate greater citizen participation in local government, and the influence of New Public Management and efficiency reforms in response to the financial crisis and great recession after 2007.

Reforming local government: Past, present and future

Administration, 2020

Reform of local government in Ireland has tended to involve both reform initiatives that mirror broader trends in public service reform nationally, as well as reform initiatives that are distinctive to the local government sector. Amongst the former we can include managerial reforms, digitisation and efforts to make local government more open and accountable. Other initiatives have included changes to the service portfolio of local government, pointing to an enhanced role in some fields and a reduced role in others. Some reforms can be characterised as enduring – in that they have been recurring themes in successive reform programmes. Other reform themes have been somewhat more occasional or sporadic and arguably brought about by the specific circumstances in which they were implemented. Looking to the future, we might speculate that upcoming challenges may include how public services generally can cope with diversity in addressing challenges that are likely to vary in different par...

Local government funding in Ireland: Contemporary issues and future challenges

Administration

The years since the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent economic crash have witnessed significant changes to the funding of the local government system in Ireland. This paper outlines these developments, while, at the same time, exploring some of the most important future challenges relating to the financing of Irish local authorities. The dominant local government revenue issues of the last decade outlined here are fiscal autonomy and the balance between own-source income and central government grants, income differences between urban and rural councils, the Local Property Tax, changes in commercial rates and fiscal equalisation. In terms of fiscal dependency and equalisation, our findings show reductions in the vertical and horizontal fiscal imbalances in the Irish local government system. Likely future challenges include the need to re-examine the balance between business taxes and non-business taxes, funding the expected growth in metropolitan areas and the financing options fo...

Reforming local government: Must it always be democracy versus efficiency?

2017

The financial crisis from 2008 has had a profound impact on Irish local government. Councils were faced with a disastrous combination of factors - declining funding from central government, difficulties in collecting commercial rates as businesses struggled, and a drastic fall in revenue from development levies. Staffing levels in the local government sector were reduced by over 20 per cent, significantly more than the losses suffered by central government ministries and departments. Yet the financial crisis also offered an opportunity for reform and a fundamental reappraisal of subnational government in Ireland. A reform strategy produced in 2012 paved the way for the Local Government Reform Act, 2014. As a result of this legislation, the number of local authorities was reduced from 114 to 31 with the complete abolition of all town councils. The number of council seats also fell from 1,627 to 949. Using Scharpf’s dimensions of democratic legitimacy, this article assesses whether th...

Councillor/Officer Relations in Irish Local Government: Alternative Models

Public Administration, 1985

The models of Irish local politics that dominate the literature offer inadequate explanations of the elected politiciadofficer relationship. This article analyses the behaviour of the most senior local officer (the county or city manager) vis-a-vis elected representatives by first reviewing the relevant parts of four current models and then offering an alternative explanation by way of a fifth 'divergent interest' model. This final model is in part an amalgam of the other four though it also aims to disaggregate the notion of policy as it is currently used. In particular, it seeks to corn romise between the neglect of substantive policy concerns inherent in the brokerage expgnation and the epiphenomena1 model's ambivalence on the initiatives available to the manager. A feature of this model is that both managers and councillors have policy and administrative interests but in largely noncompetitive areas. The divergence of interests between official and politician arises from differing perspectives established by both consideration of time-scale and socialization. The stability of their relationship is reinforced by the temporal fragmentation of the formal ting resources over which the manager and Kis counallors seek command: It is hoped t g t the divergent interests model offered here will be a useful tool in understanding the relationship between Irish politicians and bureaucrats at the local government level. olicy making process, and b the non-com

EGovernment in Ireland: An Evaluation of the Legal and Policy Framework

(2008) Administration, 56 (1):19-55

  1. Administration, 56 (1):19-55 eGovernment is one of the dominant themes of the modernisation of public administration internationally. This paper seeks to examine the policy and legal framework for the development of eGovernment in Ireland. It explores the major eGovernment applications currently in place and evaluates the current state of eGovernment in Ireland. Identification of the legal issues hindering the progress of eGovernment in Ireland constitutes a major focus of the article.