Mayo Letters of the Week: We need solutions to a damaged democracy
Sir,
ONE of the fundamentals of Irish democracy is a duty of care to its citizens. Sadly, this constitutional priority appears to have faded in the Irish playbook in recent years.
Ireland has the highest government spend in Europe. Where is the return?
The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report of 2023 confirms excessive departmental over spend – all without question, query or penalty.
The National Children’s Hospital will have achieved epic global status in project overspend.
A former finance minister, before his departure, and against the advice of departmental officials, sanctioned his new employers with an additional €10 million allocation.
Provision for a significant State Pension Fund appears to have little official profile.
We have the highest ESB costs in Europe. We have 17,000 homeless people in Ireland in 2026, and we have 300,000 homes in energy arrears.
Major issues continue with housing, healthcare and Education. Rural Ireland is devastated with the growing cost of living impact, and many rural towns are achieving ghost town status.
The EU introduced Rural Pact, a series of localised community development options in 2021. Despite the potential for rural Ireland, this viable option remains in Limbo.
Ireland has signed up to significant carbon changes. The penalty and failure incurs severe financial penalties.
How come annual national budgets, agreed, are later increased significantly?
Government indifference and lack of effective response to the Irish economic reality is very evident. The country is now beset by an upsurge in fuel costs. The transport sector faces fuel increases, additional toll charges, and increased Dublin Port charges.
A typical HGV diesel tank can cost over €800 to fill. Increased fertilizer prices will impact on-farm production and bring us a step closer to increased inflation. Domestic heating is now a burden to most families. This is without threatened carbon tax surcharges. Inflation is now on the horizon.
The commercial vehicles achieve some carbon reduction with the addition of Adblue – a fertilizer derivative that is sadly impacted by price increases.
These are just some of the critical issues that prompt the initial protests. The objective to create awareness and to seek government intervention. Early discussion could/should bring some remedy to what is now a growing and critical situation.
This matter could have been addressed much earlier with an early engagement between protest leaders and government representatives. The meeting was arranged but the protest leaders were not allowed access. Is this not like having a wedding without the bride and groom?
The fundamental in this matter is based on a national concern about the indifference response to the increased costs for households, motorists, farmers and transport operators.
CSO confirms that counties like Mayo, Donegal, Roscommon, Longford, Laois and Offaly are well below the average national average income. There is a sound case for comprehensive government investment and an end to this economic discrimination.
This scenario has proven how susceptible the Irish economy is to outside change and how slow Ireland responds. The logic now supports a comprehensive revamp and upgrade of most government services, embracing accountability and delivery.
The recent events confirm serious fractures in Irish democracy. Credit is due to the commitment and courage of the real protesters. The first-hand experience notes the professionalism of the gardaí. The government, however, continues to adopt delay, deny, dilute, deviate as an operational mode.
The message is clear: the fuel protest is not just a single impactful issue. Rural economic discrimination, indifference to departmental budgets and deliverables, and cost of living issues are ongoing matters of concern.
The solution is a comprehensive and practical range of immediate solutions. This response is awaited – or do we wait for a change in government?
Yours sincerely,
John Moran, Castlebar
Democracy v taskforce aspirations
Sir,
THE importance of town councils can neither be exaggerated or downplayed. They are central to and a core value of living communities. It is unlikely that such valued accepted certainties were uppermost in the minds of the FG/Lab government when, 13 years ago, they had the audacity to abolished local electorate means of decision making and town management.
Justice in any state/society demands justice in local communities in pursuit of local aspirations. But there was no justice in their unilateral decision. Rather they delivered injustice under the guise of monetary value and duplication.
In the context of town management, representative groupings can be a combination of political party representatives and independents. These democratically elected public representatives, in the first instance, owe their allegiance to their community, and secondly to the lawful and legal structure in situ for the greater protection of the common good – namely the state.
Seeking further information on recent deliberations by the 'Taskforce' sadly yielded a civil service type response.
Fianna Fáil, in its recent election manifesto, pledged to the setting up of a 'Local Democracy Taskforce'. This is now a living entity. Over the past eight months, the taskforce has met on nine occasions.
They were supported in their deliberations by 'pillar groups that provided subject matter and technical expertise'.
The four pillars – executive government, finance, municipal authority executive, and county council public representatives – will be informed of executive decisions. Unfortunately, all of this is meaningless unless and until town councils, without restrictions but within reason, are removed or clarified.
The taskforce work is now complete and the report has been handed to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, James Browne, and also the Minister for Local Government and Planning, John Cummins.
Following their consideration of the findings, a 'plan to implement its recommendations' will be presented to government for approval in the coming weeks. After that, the publication of the report will proceed.
On the surface this appears promising. However, reading through the fine print does not suggest a return of town councils based on the following: executive government, municipal authority executive and county council public representatives will be informed of executive decisions.
This suggests they will remain largely powerless, though they may have some additional leeway bestowed on their role. When taken together, it seems to me that the government is intent on ensuring that the Republic of Ireland comes under autocratic rule, though it will claim it is a democracy.
Meanwhile, in the Houses of the Oireachtas, our TDs, government ministers and senators remain largely silent on an intrinsic and priceless piece of potential legislation restoring town councils to the people.
Justice doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It has to be willed and worked for to get it into legislation. Returning town councils to their rightful place within our communities is now of the utmost urgency.
Yours sincerely,
Tom Flynn,
Westport.