An unfortunate threat to the basic level of local government

They have been the source of ridicule down through the years; the public have often questioned their being; they have regularly been the subject of fun for some of the things they come up with and some would argue that they haven’t the power to break wind.

And yet if this current Government decide to do away with the many town councils across the country, it will leave several large towns without a certain level of representation that they currently enjoy . . . even if their powers are miniscule.

It is planned to abolish town councils that are former town commissioners and rationalise the more powerful urban district councils. In terms of County Galway it means that Tuam Town Council and Loughrea Town Council would be wiped off the face of the earth while Ballinasloe Town Council, which is a former UDC, would retain some of its powers.

The town councils have been regularly been accused of being nothing more than a talking shop with little power and while this may be true to some degree, they are often the first port of call for local groups who may want to enhance their estate or may have a problem with a certain development that is taking place in their area.

It is often the case that these groups or individuals do not want to take their issue to the chamber of Galway County Council where they would come face to face with councillors from other parts of the county who they feel wouldn’t have a blind bit of interest in their problems or concerns.

In Tuam, Loughrea and Ballinasloe, there are nine elected town councillors who meet every month in the presence of a Galway County Council official and their local area engineer at which they put different issues affecting their respective towns. Of course there can be a lot of nonsense spoken at these meetings but such is the case at Galway County Council meetings on occasions as well.

The elected members of Tuam and Loughrea Town Councils are paid a miniscule allowance each month which would not cover their mobile phone bills while the nine members of Ballinasloe Town Council are paid significantly more, but nothing compared to members of Galway County Council.

Having covered meetings of Tuam Town Council for almost the past 10 years, there are times one would emerge from the chamber and wonder what went on for the previous two hours but there have been occasions when they have used their limited power to good effect.

A case in point occurred last year when Galway County Council wanted to locate astroturf pitches, basketball and tennis courts on the town’s public park known as the Palace Grounds. As Tuam Town Council have control over what goes into the park, they succeeded in stopping this development in its tracks following pressure from a large gathering of local people.

For more, read this week's Connacht Tribune.