‘Dublin tends to be prioritised’

"There’s a tendency from our Government and civil servants not to trust the better distribution of power and decision-making at a local level.”

Green Party Cllr Dan Boyle, who has sat in the Southern Regional Assembly since 2021, said there is a shortcoming in Ireland when it comes to the devolution of power to local and regional bodies.

“Ireland doesn’t have a regional sphere of government, and is out of line with most other European Union countries,” the former lord mayor said.

The Southern Regional Assembly is one of three regional assemblies in Ireland, alongside the Northern and Western Assembly, and the Eastern and Midlands Assembly.

All three were established by the Local Government Act, 1991. However, unlike other EU states, such as Spain, where regional assemblies have strong autonomy from central government, in Ireland the assemblies cannot make policy decisions, and fill an advisory role.

Their main purpose is to advise on the distribution of EU funding, and to advise on regional infrastructural development.

According to Cllr Boyle, the lack of power regional (and local) authorities are given by the central government limits both their effectiveness, and their ability to retain talent. He added that the weakness of the bodies causes a brain drain towards Dublin.

“Because we have so few powers at a local and regional government level, the quality of people we can encourage and get to participate is less than what it can be otherwise.

“People are reluctant to devote their time and their experience if it’s not being used to the best possible ability.

“It’s in our interest to have a bigger distribution of power and have the best people we can involve themselves in it,” he said.

He said that Ireland could learn a lot from any number of other states in the EU, such as in the Benelux countries, or in the Baltic states.

Cllr Kieran McCarthy (Independent), who has sat in the Assembly for 11 years, said Ireland is not moving in the right direction when it comes to giving more powers to the regions, and this was resulting in unequal development.

“We’re seeing very unbalanced development,” he said, “especially in terms of housing. With funds being centralised, Dublin tends to be prioritised over other places around the country.”

He said that fighting for the recognition of the need for a more balanced development for cities and towns outside of Dublin like Cork and Limerick was one of the main aims of the assembly.

A major area McCarthy thinks the Assembly can improve is in the communication of its responsibilities to the public.

“We should be promoting the work of the assembly much more over things like social media, over the radio, so that people know how EU funds are helping the regions,” he said.

“There’s a lot more we can be doing to promote the benefits of EU membership.”

This article was produced with the support of the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme funded by Coimisiún na Meán.