Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
IN A RECENT column for TheJournal.ie, Aaron McKenna advocates devolving most of the powers of Irish government to what he calls our “castrated” county and town councils. He is wrong.
Irish local authorities (LAs) are bloated, incompetent, corrupt, sclerotic little fiefdoms who attempt to explain their interrupted record of failure by trotting out the lie that they ‘lack funds and powers’.
It is a lie. LAs spend in excess of €10billion a year, about 20 per cent of all government spending. McKenna doesn’t ask what they do with this vast amount of money, but I researched the topic for my book and was appalled at every fact I uncovered.
According to the Department of the Environment, LAs are responsible for:housing, planning, water supply and sewerage, recreation facilities, development incentives and controls, roads, environmental protection, agriculture, education and health.
LAs long ago lost responsibility for all except the first five items listed. Where they retain authority, their performance ranges from disastrous incompetence to catastrophic corruption.
They lost taxi regulation in 2004. For decades, they constricted the supply of taxi licences, creating havoc for consumers. Taxi-plate owners (rarely the drivers) employed Frank Dunlop to ‘lobby’ councillors. Taxi licences fetched up to €100,000 on the black market, attracting criminals eager to launder money, and commuters shivered in the rain.
There are 90 local authorities in Ireland with planning functions – responsible for creating zoning plans and giving planning permission. The banks, the developers, and the politicians who bailed them out are all getting their share of blame for the bust, but the LAs are getting off far too easily.
It was LAs who made many millionaires by converting farmland into estate after shoddily-built estate, far from employment, inaccessible on public transport, without a thought for schools or amenities for the residents, while vast tracts of inner-city brownfield sites decayed. LAs allowed the slapping up of concrete jungle ‘holiday developments’ that are ugly enough to guarantee tourists will never arrive.
Even where there is no money to be made in bribes, even when the task is mind-numbingly easy, and vital to our democracy – keeping an accurate list of voters – they can’t get it right. One entry in three on the electoral roll is wrong. Monkeys with typewriters could do better.
LAs report the cost of processing each student grant application – a basic bureaucratic function, implementing a rigid nationally-set formula. In Westmeath it costs €70.51, not cheap. In Tipperary North, it costs €484.25. Such vast variation indicates vast inefficiency.
Water and sewerage is one area where the LAs have genuine power, so many rural residents and tourists spend their summers vomiting cryptosporidium from their taps into their toilets. Everything local authorities touch turns into a fiasco: delays in driving tests, the disastrous implementation of penalty points, a country with fewer playgrounds than golf courses, the list goes on.
In the private sector, perform poorly and you will get your responsibilities and your budget cut. This minimises damage, and motivates performance. Politicians, unused to a world where merit is rewarded, reverse this idea. They want to reward failure with more power, and even more money.
I’m not surprised that politicians want more power and more money, but I am shocked that an otherwise clear-thinking Aaron McKenna has fallen for this. I am shocked because I expect that, like me, his private sector experience would tell him that increasing complexity in our society and economy is changing the way everything works.
Technology that allows companies to do things more efficiently also forces them to do less. McKenna’s company sells products from hundreds of companies, who source components and services from thousands more. If one company tired to take on the entire process of manufacturing even one piece of complex electronics, it would collapse under the workload.
Nobody expects each county in Ireland to have its own laptop factory, its own smartphone system or its own version of Facebook. Equally it is not reasonable to expect such tiny populations to contain the all the skills needed to manage complex tasks such as zoning , planning, or running a modern water and sewerage system.
The reason for the incompetence and inefficiency is that too-small organisations are taking on too many tasks. Corruption happens because the skill of management is also being spread too thinly; and when local officials often live in the same village as applicants, they can easily be bribed or put under to moral pressure to make the wrong call.
Ireland certainly needs radical reforms. One of the first should be to send the gelded old nags from our local councils to the knackers’ yard, not pretend that they are fit to run the Grand National.
William Campbell is the author of Here’s How: Creative Solutions for Ireland’s Economic and Social Problems.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Absolute scam to gouge and fleece people.
@Diogenes: Not if overall consumption decreases, as it did in Scotland . Still, if you’re Pre programmed to give out about the Government, go right ahead.
@Thomas O’ Donnell:
Consumption has actually increased in Scotland,
People are home brewing ,
The Irish government will ignore the facts just to appease its self interested pub owning colleagues,,
Our politicians don’t care about the health of the nation
@Thomas O’ Donnell: How do you explain this? https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/scots-are-drinking-more-despite-minimum-pricing-qdspgtrr0
Sounds like a lot of lobbying has went on here so the cheap stuff goes up and the good stuff stays the same.so Guinness Heineken Smirnoff will be happy because this kills off their competition more or less.i also think this is to force more people out to pubs as well.Smoking a joint will be so much cheaper.
@Thomas O’ Donnell: there was an article on uk news last week that stated heavy drinkers and addicted drinkers in glasgow have turned to drugs known as ‘street med’s ‘ as these are cheaper than alcohol since the minimum price law came into effect . ‘STREET MEDS ‘ are usually in tablet form and made in a ‘home lab’ set up using basic equipment -they are a form of amphetamines and barbiturates and can be bought for as little as 25 pence per tablet . you can buy a ‘bag’ of 20 tabs for under a fiver ! glasgow health authority and hospital are reporting that an unprecedented number of former alcoholics are now addicted to these ‘street meds’ and it is turning them into ‘zombies’ unable to function ,walk or even speak when under the influence of the meds – 5 people have died in recent months due to ‘street med’ use . doctors and drug experts say they don’t know what the long term effects of using these drugs is likely to be with regards to mental and physical health ,but addiction to them is very quick and its use is ‘spreading rapidly’ among former drinkers who can no longer afford their ‘usual’ drug of choice (alcohol) and have turned to street meds instead . in the article they interviewed several people who are hooked on these tablets – one a 30 yr old woman (who looked closer to 70 than 30) said she had been on the meds for a month and she felt worse now than at any time when she ‘was on the drink ‘ she said she has turned to bag snatching and phone robbing to get money to pay for the drug- something she never did with alcohol ,another addict who said he would normally have drank 4 x2 ltr bottles of cider a day said he is now taking ”between 4 and 6 bags” of street meds a day – costing him more than drink did but the level of addiction is quicker with meds than with drink . so bringing in the minimum pricing has not solved the problem -its only changed the type of the addiction – the effects of which are not yet known but medical experts seem to think it could be far worse than alcohol .
@Diogenes:
yes and they telling us that we will have cheaper alcohol from the Brazillian Trade Agreement
Please tell me what is going on
@Thomas O’ Donnell: I’m calling bull on this article, drinking trends are on a downward curve year o year for ten years, logically then this year is the lowest if the trend holds true, not much to do with the new pricing
@Diogenes: All this will accomplish is addicts will be more out of pocket, even lower on the social economic ladder. And those who drink less will turn to different cheaper substances.
Statistics can prove anything and people hear what they want to hear
This has more to do with the publicans lobby, than with concern for health.
Scam
@Nehppo McG: yep
@Leroy Brown: Nope
Thoese hat have an addiction/ dependency on alcohol won’t be put off by pricing they will go without something else to get the alcohol. If anything it could drive thoese who are in an already challenging situation into possibly poverty.
I know exactly how it’ll work. Every 2 or 3 months, I’ll stick ‘Enniskillen’ into Google maps, drive up, fill the boot of the car with cheap cans and whiskey, and drive back to college in Galway. Not many students can afford anything other than the cheapest drinks before we go on nights out and I’m no exception. I’ll be stocking up on my cheap cans and spirits for a few months at a time
@Alex Nevin: poor student’s but yet you can afford 2-3 months drink in one purchase and the extra cost of petrol. Bet if you have a stockpile of booze in the shed it’ll get drank twice as quick as if you were buying in 6 packs locally.
Some bunch of lads. So some local pub is struggling, so they decide it a good idea to put the local supermarkets in the firing line and start playing god with there pricing. FF/FG, listen, that same pub is going to be still struggling after, cause they are just unsustainable. No one wants to drink there! Scotland is not equal to Ireland.
Increasing the price of cigarettes and alcohol year after year has totally stopped people smoking and drinking…
@Declan Flynn:
I don’t think Declan only to bring cigarettes in from Poland etc and they are being sold on the black market by increasing prices encourages black market dealing
I rarely ever drink alcohol so it doesn’t affect me, but it’s easy to see it’s just another way of lumping tax onto the citizen under the guise of something good & politically correct, the same will happen with carbon taxes, it’s an on going cycle of tax, tax, tax.
Our tourist industry is already having difficulties after the VAT increase, this will just make things worse
@David Grey: Spot on, Exactly what I was thinking!
Why is it considered fantastic that ‘alcohol consumption in Scotland dropped to its lowest level’????
WE. ARE. ADULTS. Are we now not allowed enjoy ourselves outside work hours???? Fair enough target underage drinking but kindly p!ss off and allow the rest of us TAX PAYING ADULTS to have a social life!
@Kath Noonan: if you drink the expensive stuff your not effected so we are probably still paying for daily subsidised drink.
Anyone who thinks so called premium drinks won’t now increase to keep their distance from the previously cheap plonk needs to think again. This will have knock on across the board
@JustOneScoop: Maybe, but people will more than likely just buy the branded drink now therefore increasing their sales
@JustOneScoop: its perfect storm for the ‘premium’ brands. People will no longer buy what was the cheaper alternative. whats the point when the premium brand is now the same price
in Gran Canaria you can get a bottle of wine for 3.75 and buy “imported” Gordans Gin 1L for 11.95! this is just a joke! FG looking after their buddies in the Pub trade… Don’t hear the Healy-Rae gang giving out about it either
disproportionately affecting those with less income, tell me the money goes rehab and I might be swayed but into pascal’s black hole and i’ll put it down to same old sh!t
A bit of a hangover today but quite often when i go out because i have to drive early the following morning i often drink the nonalcohol beers which have really come on alot
but how can a non alcohol beer be more expensive then a pint of alcohol beer the tax should be scrapped on these non alcohol beer it certainly encourage more people to drink them.
The more expensive drink could persuade youngsters to try drugs for their kicks, not that a lot of them need much persuading.
@John: that’s a really good point
Drug consumption has skyrocketed in Scotland since minimum pricing with alcoholics turning to bad cheap highly addictive drugs creating worse health problems. General alcohol consumption was on the wane year on year before the change. Wake up Ireland its a scam.
This drives me crazy! Listening to Senators who cannot control their drinking, push their coping agenda on the rest of us is maddening. Alcohol is more expensive in Ireland than most countries worldwide!! I can see the tourists flocking here as we have found another way to gouge them. Hotels are full (with homeless), car rental is truly exorbitant, and now it’s off the charts to relax with a drink. Ireland has become a nation of gougers with Leo in charge. The people will roll over while his cronies play on the swings!
The supermarkets along the border will die a death. It would be even worthwhile once a month driving to Newry from Dublin and filling the boot full of Gargle..
Is there a website that tracks what TDs voted yes / no to various bills? I’d be interested to see what alleged working class heroes in my constituency opposed this nonsense so I can be ready to rant at them come election time (unfortunately I didn’t get a single canvasser during the council EU elections)
@Trenchant Buffoon:
Yes, here’s the link.
Pick the Dáil debate you’re interested in, & click on View detailed results.
Scroll down to
Show member vote results.
It shows you the full list.
@Trenchant Buffoon: http://www.cronies.ie thats all they are
@Fiona Fitzgerald: thanks for that. I’ll be interested in how the working class heroes in SF voted seeing as their comrades up north were planning a similar measure until stormont was shut
@Trenchant Buffoon: You’re welcome. It’s been online for years, and it’s a lot more searchable now than it used to be.
Where’s this extra tax really going to go though??
It’s drink driving killed the pub seen and everybody knows that ,now drugs wil the cheaper option ,they get everything wrong this shower the country isn’t fun to live in any more unless you have plenty of money which most people don’t
Drink consumption in Scotland was reducing anyway, now the price difference with the expensive brands will be reduced, so they will benefit.
Simon Harris is a total disaster as a health minister , the children’s hospital will affect all of our pockets and now minimum pricing,
I hope the new EU cabinet will block it,
It goes against EU rules for good reason,
It favours the big sellers and will strangle the smaller craft beer companies,
Why are the Healy Raes not complaining for a change ,
I hate this nanny state,
And will see you see you all in Newry
Good article journal. Hard to know what to say about this . Carefully plotted calculations. Brings in some more revenue and keeps certain activist groups happy. What’s more to be said. Will do v little in the long run for people with alcohol issues. They might have to switch from their usual to something cheaper. Unless vodka is your thing. Apart from this Worst case an extra few cents for the lowest priced beer listed in the article. For the next generation though maybe a good thing…… stop before you start?
How will the TDs be able to pay for the drinks in the Fail Bar when they owe thousands at the moment
@pat seery: Pat you answered your own question, they just don’t pay.lol
Scotland drinking more despite minimum pricing. More bullshyte from FG https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/scots-are-drinking-more-despite-minimum-pricing-qdspgtrr0
Id say oul Eunan Mckinney is a barrel of laughs on a night out
I never drink unless I’m alone or with someone.
I had the misfortune of listening to Simon Harris at a charity event recently .
We got used to his bite size messages on RTE, but I can honestly say the guy is totally incompetent,
Does he have any idea what minimum pricing means, it’s a soviet style tactic that the Norwegians implemented 20 yrs ago,
Norwegians resorted to brewing rocket fuel alcohol in their homes,
Listening to Harris it’s clear to me he doesn’t genuinely care about people ,
Minimum pricing will create a new set bof problems,
Scotland is already witnessing this,
Scotland will never be allowed into the EU but we are a part of that family and we need to follow the rules that protect small business,
Simon Harris needs to wake up ,
Ireland won’t accept new pricing
@Melanie Tournier: the incompetent clown has to get funds for the most expensive hospital in the world from somewhere.
@Melanie Tournier: same when I was in Iceland 20 years ago. locals were falling about in home distilled spirits at 7pm they went into nightclubs to sober up. but homebrew doesn’t show on the sales figures
Close the Dail Bar.
@John Declan: never mind the bar – close the fecking dail and do us all a favour !
Scotland reduction mainly due to – no World Cup or great weather as last year. Scotland’s lower price beer and ciders at 5% alcohol went to bottles of vodka at 40% alcohol. Volume reduced but alcohol increased
1/what happened to the usual fg mantra of “not being able to interfere in the markets ” ? 2/how much extra revenue will this bring into government coffers via alcohol tax and vat ?
3/ where will the extra revenue go ? (a) into rehabilitation centres to help people with addiction problems( i doubt it ) ? or (b) into another pay rise for the top 5%?(most likely ).
4/ so the government think that these price rises will not affect drink on sale in pubs or the price ‘higher end’ brands ? of course it will – if the ‘cheaper’ brands price goes up -the rest will follow suit !
5/ how much of this legislation is due to lobbying from the irish vintners association and companies like diageo ?
You voted for them so tough shit, suck it up.
Minister for health my ring !!!.
These forking idiots could manage their way out of a wet bag.
Are you still happy you voted for them…
@tommytukamomo: Who would you suggest we vote for
@tommytukamomo: who did you vote for ?
@Mick Cullen: you have a brain …. use it !!
@Ronan McDermott: Not this shower of parasites.
@Mick Cullen: vote for direct democracy.we can run the show ourselves we don’t need these lobbying loving pri*ks to tell us what to do..and tommytukamomo is bang on.ye vote for these wasters but moan about them all the time keeping putting them in government to fook everything up..then say who else can we vote for.there’s DDI brand new party give them ago instead of waiting for the golden perfect party to arrive along.its simple vote differently or don’t vote at all..
what about the dail bar, are they going to start paying full price? absolute gobshootery. #getyourhandsoffmycans
Scotland reduction mainly due to – no World Cup or great weather as last year. Scotland’s lower price beer and ciders at 5% alcohol went to bottles of vodka at 40% alcohol. Volume reduced but alcohol increased
With this law they’ll need a border with Northern Ireland even if Brexit doesn’t happen!
Scotland reduction mainly due to – no World Cup or great weather as last year. Scotland’s lower price beer and ciders at 5% alcohol went to bottles of vodka at 40% alcohol. Volume reduced but alcohol increased
Scotland reduction mainly due to – no World Cup or great weather as last year. Scotland’s lower price beer and ciders at 5% alcohol went to bottles of vodka at 40% alcohol. Volume reduced but alcohol increased
Scotland reduction mainly due to – no World Cup or great weather as last year. Scotland’s lower price beer and ciders at 5% alcohol went to bottles of vodka at 40% alcohol. Volume reduced but alcohol increased
What an idiot. This isn’t governments job. Do what you are elected for. Wages housing taxes and safety on the streets. Not this rubbish. Big brother
Message from the future; It is coming in on January 4th 2022. The people are deeply disappointed by this unpopular move and slabs now cost over 40 quid. Price gouging at its worst.
have your say