With just one city or county council for every 148,507 people, Ireland has far fewer local municipalities than similar-sized European countries, while Irish local authorities perform fewer functions than municipalities across Europe.

Research published by Fórsa shows Irish councils have less autonomy from central government than their counterparts in 39 European countries.

The research paper, Democracy Works If You Let It by Dr Mary Murphy of Maynooth University, found that only 8% of Irish public spending occurs at local government level, This compares to an EU average of over 23%.

Furthermore, a quarter of the Irish spend is not fully under local authority control.

Dr Murphy made a presentation of the research at the union’s local government conference in Kilkenny last week.

The research paper shows that Irish local authorities perform fewer functions than municipalities across Europe, with their roles largely confined to physical infrastructure and environmental and recreational services.

Dr Murphy said this has a negative effect on local employment, service quality, value-for-money, environmental protection, and local jobs and economic development. It has also contributed to declining local election voter turnout.

“Local government can be an important source of economic development and local jobs, while local authorities across Europe are playing a leading role in transitioning to low-carbon renewable energy. We need to rebuild Irish local democracy and citizen participation to build strong local economies based on good jobs and decent incomes, and to address climate change.”

Fórsa's Head of Division Peter Nolan echoed the call by Cathaoirleach Seán Reid for the Citizens Assembly to have a role in the development of local democratic reform.

“Irish people take great pride in their counties and cities, yet this element of our democracy has been systematically eroded by centralisation, privatisation and austerity. They deserve structures and systems that deliver quality local services that match the best in Europe. This makes the Citizens Assembly an entirely appropriate forum in which to develop our thinking and direction on how to successfully build stronger and better local government,” he said.

Get more on last week’s conference HERE.