Kilkenny councillor hits out at 'democratic deficit' in Irish Local Government System

Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick, Association of Irish Local Government (AILG) President, has expressed major concerns that Ireland has the 'most centralised' system of local government compared to its European counterparts.

The AILG, the national representative body for city and county councillors across Ireland, submitted its independent report to a Congress of Local and Regional Authorities European Monitoring Committee during its recent visit to review Ireland.

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Speaking in relation to the report, Cllr Pat Fitzpatrick said that 'councillors here have fewer powers than in almost every other country and have limited revenue-raising and spending powers'.

"In reality, since the 2014 reforms, the position and powers of the Chief Executive have increased resulting in a growing imbalance between the executive powers of the Chief Executive and the reserved powers of the elected councillors," he said.

"Accordingly, this leads to a democratic deficit where decisions can be made without direct democratic accountability. This is outdated, anti-democratic, and no longer tenable and was never acceptable."

Two monitoring visits of local and regional democracy in Ireland have previously been carried out in 2001 and 2013 respectively.