At that time, 25 years ago, I frequently heard people throw out the phrase, ‘In Ireland, we don’t have local government, we have local administration’. Local government exists for two primary reasons: as a provider of local public services; and as an instrument of local democracy to give expression to community self-government. In terms of our numbers of local authorities and local councillors, we have the most disconnected model in Europe. This year, we celebrate the 120th anniversary of the first local elections, which brought the current system of local government into being. Now, we need to start making decisions in favour of local democracy and local self-government.

Source: Irish Examiner March 31, 2019 22:52 UTC