Councillors fit to govern

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" background="04b785a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Councillor Keith Martin </B></FONT><B>     |    </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Councillor Keith Martin "><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="news21.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News"><U><I><B><U>Back to news page</U></B></I></U></A></div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <IMG SRC="1bd98450.jpg" border=0 width="152" height="69" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></div> <bR> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Councillors fit to govern</I></div> <div> <TABLE BORDER="1" CELLPADDING="2" CELLSPACING="5" WIDTH="559" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#000000" BORDERCOLORDARK="#FFFFFF" FRAME="VOID" RULES="COLS" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 39 WIDTH="263"><div> <A HREF="http://www.mayonews.ie/current/archive3.tmpl$showpage?value1=335495258287365&datevar=&headlinevar=had%20a%20chat%20with&headlinecompvar=wo&sectionvar=" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.mayonews.ie/current/archive3."><U><B>Mayo News Column</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.mayonews.ie/current/archive3.tmpl$showpage?value1=335495258287365&datevar=&headlinevar=had%20a%20chat%20with&headlinecompvar=wo&sectionvar=" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.mayonews.ie/current/archive3."><U><B>April 26</B></U></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP ROWSPAN=2 WIDTH="19"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="39" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="19" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> <B>Keith's letter to the editor</B></div> <div> <B>May 3</B></div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 2488 WIDTH="263"><div> <B>Had a chat with...</B></div> <div> Stephen O’Grady gauges Mayo opinion </div> <div> Had a chat with an outspoken county councillor during the last week, and boy was he in the mood for speaking out. </div> <div> “I’m not the only one, you know. We’re all on the same track on this one,” he gesticulated with his hand as he emphasised the point. Still, the fragile curling length of ash refused to slip from the butt of the burning cigarette he held in the same hand. I have often wondered at such mastery, such control among the smoking fraternity. </div> <div> Smoking was not on the agenda this evening, however. Master and control were. Our elected representative was very much at his wits’ end with the erosion of control that the local councillor has over public affairs in Mayo. He increasingly felt a pawn in a game refereed by Council officialdom. </div> <div> “They are lord and master, and we are only there to make up the numbers,” he insisted. So I put it to him that maybe that’s the way it is meant to be. At the end of the day it is the Council officials who are trained professionally to manage local government properly and efficiently. Just take the annual estimates meeting and the figures brought before the members of the Council each year, I argued. How many councillors would be able to professionally handle a €10m budget for housing in the county, I asked him. What about the roads, I continued. Look at the size of the county, and all the primary roads and secondary roads and regional roads and local roads and boithríns. That costs around €50m to look after each year. </div> <div> Yes, I had been pouring over the book of estimates on the night before. Well, a man has to find some way of beating insomnia. </div> <div> But my friend, the councillor, was temporarily rattled, so I took the chance to rattle off a string of other areas where only professionals should be charged with their management. Water supply, sewerage, refuse collection, fire services, libraries, health, social welfare. </div> <div> “But sure they’re going to privatise the refuse collection,” he identified a chink in my paper armour. And won’t that lead to a more efficient service, I suggested. </div> <div> “It might,” he replied, “in Castlebar or Ballina or Claremorris. But what about the people living out near Blacksod Bay? Haven’t they a right to an efficient service, just like everybody else.” </div> <div> With that I halted him in his tracks. And there you are, I said, that’s why you still have a huge part to play in the Council chamber. That’s why you still have the power to adopt that book of estimates. </div> <div> “So, I’m a conscience for the people with the power.” </div> <div> A moral conscience to the Council executive. Not just a voice for the people, but a moral voice for the rights of those people. A guiding light. </div> <div> “But I’m an elected councillor, I should be more than a guiding light? The councillor should have greater power, greater involvement in the day-to-day business of the Council,” he maintained. In that case, the councillor should also be doubling up as a council official, came my riposte. </div> <div> “But look at the power that the elected representatives have in Dáil Éireann,” he argued. But are they any better-informed than the elected councillor, I wondered. Are they not subject to information presented at the behest of the civil servant? </div> <div> “But they still have a lot more power?” </div> <div> Maybe, Councillor, it’s not all about power. Maybe it would be no bad thing if every elected member of Dáil Éireann was sent back to school. They might actually play a more relevant role, if they had to re-sit a version of the Leaving Cert and show that they understand the basics, before they can take their seat in the Dáil Chamber. He scoffed at me, but by now I was rolling. </div> <div> I pointed him to the 1916 Commemorations which cropped up in all shapes and sizes over the Easter, and the willing involvement of our politicians in same. I just wonder how these people would get on if they were sat in a study hall and presented with an examination of their knowledge of Irish history and its evolution. Would they all pass with flying colours, or perhaps would their true colours come flying through at half mast? Then we might find out just how many participated in the various commemorations just because they felt it was the right thing to do. </div> <div> Would Brian Cowen have flown applied maths? Would Mary Harney have got the honour in biology? Would Martin Cullen have passed geography? </div> <div> “Ah, you’re missing my point,” my councillor interrupted. Maybe, but do you see mine?</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="241"><div> <I>Dear Madam,</I></div> <div> <I>According to Stephen O’Grady (Had a chat with….Wednesday April 26) councillors are not qualified to run their own councils, councillors should act as the conscience of the “professionally” trained officials. This, he hints, is the way the system has been designed.</I></div> <div> <I>In this assertion Mr O’Grady underestimates the education, experience and qualifications of the elected representative. Here in Westport we have nine councillors with a wide range of occupations; a care worker, a teacher, a solicitor, an accountant, an information officer, a production line worker, a librarian, a full time politician and a self-employed businessman. These are the day jobs, each one has a wide range of interests and committee work also.</I></div> <div> <I>Mr O’Grady is correct to say local government has been weakened over the last couple of decades but I must point out this is not because of councillors’ inability or unsuitability to run their councils but because central government wanted more control over these councils, their policies and budgets. This began with the installation of a city manager in Cork in 1930 and the system was later rolled out over the country since then. All City and County Managers are appointed by central government through a selection committee, they are not hired by the local authorities.</I></div> <div> <I>It is the function of the elected representatives to run every aspect of the council, except for salaries and recruitment. However to ease this burden many of these aspects have been delegated to management as “executive functions” which are designed to ensure the smooth day to day running of the council while the broader policy aspects of the council are left to the councillors.</I></div> <div> <I>More and more of these powers have been taken away from councillors, especially in recent years, and there has also been considerable interference from central government in matters of budget, refuse and planning, none of which, in my opinion, have improved local government.</I></div> <div> <I>Mr O’Grady lists the massive budgets of the local authorities as proof that councillors could not manage. One wonders how An Taoiseach and his Ministers manage? How does Ken Livingstone, who qualified as a teacher, manage the multi billion pound budget of the city of London? The answer is that they are experienced and able representatives of the people and they make the decisions and the officials carry out those decisions. The officials do nothing more than they are intended to do and that is manage, not rule.</I></div> <div> <I>It is the purpose of the officials to guide, assist and advice the councillors in making their decisions. It is not their function to make decisions on policy or the functions of the council. It is dangerous when un-elected people, no matter how highly qualified, have powers without responsibility to the people.</I></div> <div> <I>If the idea of a benevolent bureaucracy populated with technocrats tempered by ‘conscience’ councillors is Mr O’Grady’s ideal of local government I can only say that the thought of such as system sends an icy shiver down my spine. </I></div> <div> <I>I am a democrat, I believe in government, locally and nationally, that is “of the people, for the people, by the people”. I learnt this principle and all about democracy in secondary school and perhaps Mr O’Grady should take such a refresher course before suggesting that elected representatives do.</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>Yours sincerely</I></div> <div> <I>Cllr Keith Martin</I></div> <div> <I>Westport Town Council</I></div> <bR> <div> <I>Keith Martin is a Labour Councillor on Westport Town Council in Mayo.</I></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>