Local government is a fundamental element of the liberal democratic process within which the rights and responsibilities of citizens are accommodated. If democracy does not operate effectively at local level, its failure damages the overall structure. Because of that, the decision by the Coalition Government and the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Mr Dempsey, to defer - yet again - local government elections, is to be deplored.
As a result of last week's announcement, a gap of eight years will now be created between one county council election and the next. The law requires that an election be held every five years, except in exceptional circumstances where the Oireachtas decides that the period should be extended to seven years. Having extended the period to seven years as part of a reform process, in 1990, the Dail and Seanad will now be asked to further dilute the system of local democracy. There is something wrong when Oireachtas members are permitted to decide on the frequency of their appearances before a local electorate.
One of the weaknesses of our democratic system resides in the dual mandate which county councillors and Oireachtas members presently enjoy. Most TDs and senators are also members of local authorities and they utilise those positions to protect their electoral bases within their constituencies. As a result, local authorities are treated as lesser, subservient bodies to the Oireachtas, rather than independent agencies in their own right. The sooner that dual mandate is abolished - as happened some years ago for Ministers and Ministers of State - the stronger local democracy will become and the more focused Oireachtas members will be on their national responsibilities.
There was nothing in the Minister's speech to indicate that such a reform is contemplated in the short term. Neither did Mr Dempsey refer to the prime reason advanced by political parties within Leinster House for the proposal to defer council elections: to increase artificially the turnout for European Parliament elections in 1999. The only nod in that direction was his offer to promote a constitutional referendum which would ensure that local elections were held every five years, from 1999 onwards.
A meeting of the General Council of County Councils at Dublin Castle was said to have applauded the Minister for his announcement that local elections would not be held until a reform and funding programme, including the redrawing of electoral boundaries, was comfortably in place. Such a reaction could have been predicted on the basis that turkeys do not vote for Christmas. The Minister's audience was being spared both the danger and the expense of having to go before the electorate to seek a renewal of its mandate, as scheduled, in 1998. The contrast between the frequency of local and Oireachtas elections is striking. Since 1980, there have been two county council elections. In the same period, seven Dail elections have taken place. Rather than create a hiatus of eight years between one set of local elections and the next, in the name of limited and on-going reform, Government should think again.