“I think we are in a good position to meet the obligations of the Additional Protocol […]. Ireland can therefore give an undertaking to give positive consideration to this recommendation,” said Minister of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Kieran O’Donnell, during its address to the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. The Congress rapporteurs, Vladimir Prebilic (Slovenia) and Gunn Marit Helgesen (Norway) welcomed the plans for the ratification of the Additional Protocol to the Charter, and the other measures announced by the Irish Minister as follow-up given to strengthen local democracy in the country.

Despite recent progress, there is still a lot to be done before local self-government in Ireland is on a par with other European countries, according to the Congress monitoring report.

Monitoring Ireland’s application of the European Charter of Local Self-Government during its plenary session in Strasbourg this week, the Congress took stock of recent developments and is now asking the Council of Europe’s Committee of Ministers to address a series of proposals to the Irish authorities.

In general, the Congress noted that local authorities in Ireland are strongly connected with their citizens and provide services of good standard. Citizens’ participation in local public affairs is well developed, through various forms of participatory democracy.

The Congress also welcomed a number of important changes in Ireland in the last ten years, many of which were included in the Local Government Reform Act of 2014. The Government is committed to further reform, including a major strategy to promote the introduction of directly elected mayors.

At the same time, the Congress expressed concern over a number of issues, notably underlining that local government in Ireland is far from complying with the principle of ‘subsidiarity’ and local authorities do not manage a substantial share of public affairs under their own responsibility.

The Congress also highlighted an on-going imbalance in the relative power of elected members and chief executives in local authorities. In addition, members of regional assemblies are indirectly elected and so not directly accountable to citizens for the decisions they take.

Furthermore, Ireland still lacks a formalised and regular process for central government consultations with local government on matters that directly concern them. Central government’s supervision of local government is “extensive and detailed”, and there are no signs this is to be relaxed.

Finally, the Congress underlines that local government resources to use at their own discretion remain limited and most central government grants are earmarked for specific purposes, meaning that the scope for local priorities is limited.

Ireland ratified the European Charter of Local Self-Government in May 2002. This latest report monitoring Ireland’s obligations under the charter was based on a visit to the country in spring 2023.

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45th Session
Agenda – Web file – Multimedia (Live webcasts, interviews, videos and photo)