Victor Boyhan urges stronger local government and debate on report
Victor Boyhan addressed the house on the need to strengthen local government and local democracy, urging debate on a 25-recommendation report from the Shannon public consultation. He called for more powers for city and county councillors and requested a meeting to circulate and discuss the report.
Opening remarks
He congratulated Carheerlach on re-election, thanked the leader for his work and experience, and welcomed all members to the chamber. He stressed that members come from diverse backgrounds and that every seat in the house is legitimate and deserves respect.
Local government and devolution
Boyhan said the current system is highly centralised and argued that more powers should be devolved to local government. He emphasised empowering city and county councillors beyond remuneration and pensions, focusing on policy involvement and practical support.
Shannon public consultation report
He recalled participation on the Shannon public consultation committee of the house and noted the committee produced a report with 25 recommendations. Boyhan said those recommendations have not yet been discussed or debated in the chamber.
Request to the leader
He asked the leader to organise a meeting, circulate the report to every member, and hold a timely discussion on local democracy and how to give more power to local councils. He framed the meeting as a constructive use of parliamentary time when there is limited new legislation on the agenda.
Tone and closing
Throughout the remarks he urged mutual respect between government and opposition and described political opposition as reasonable rather than antagonistic. He closed by encouraging members to enjoy the chamber, respect one another and move forward.
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Thank you Carheerlach. Well firstly I want to congratulate you on your elections Carheerlach for another time and I wish you well. I also want to take this opportunity to wish the leader well and to thank him for his work and his vast experience in here. But more importantly I want to welcome everyone into this house. This is a very unique place. We are unique people. We are individual people. We bring our life experiences to this floor, this house. We are all, be it university, Taoiseach's nominees, panels, whatever, we all have a legitimate and a valid seat and a place in this chamber and I think we need to start off with that. We need to respect one another and support one another. We need to respect that there is reasonable opposition and that is not antagonistic to government and vice versa. The government clearly have a prerogative to outlay their policies going forward and I think that's an important relationship that we need to understand. It is always respectful but it's political. I want to turn now to the next issue Carheerlach which is local government, something that I have championed as many of you have here too and many of us are elected here by our city and county councillors. The majority of us are elected here by our city and county councillors and you chaired and I was on it and many other members in this house were on the public consultation, the Shannon public consultation, a unique consultation committee of this house, not the lower house, of this house where we discussed local democracy, local government and the issue in terms of more power to local government. We have the most centralised structures in terms of local government centrally and we need to devolve more powers to local government and all through these campaigns running into this election many of us would have been challenged and asked what were we going to do about local government, what were we going to do for the city and county councillors, how were we going to empower them, support them in their work and it's not all remuneration, it's not all about pensions, it's about policy, it's about how can we dovetail them all into the relevant discussions that take place in these houses. So I would ask leader if we could organise a meeting to discuss and debate a document, there's 25 recommendations, this report, that this house set up and we've never discussed them, we've never debated and I think given that we don't have a lot of policy and a lot of legislation coming down the track, I would ask that that document would be circulated to every member of this house and that we would have a timely discussion in relation to local government and local democracy and how can we say more power to you, more power to our city and local councils because I think that is vitally important that we should do so. So that is my initial and first ask in this house but look let's enjoy it, let's respect one another and move forward. Thank you. Thank you.
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