Bigger County Council frustrates speed of debate

The election of an additional nine councillors in County Galway has had its more than fair share of controversy in recent weeks.

Notwithstanding the fact that they now have to meet outside the Council headquarters, it is also incurring a cost that is infuriating the public.

And it is also a bone of contention that, as there are 39 councillors, it takes a lot longer to get matters passed through the local authority.

It is no easy task for the Cathaoirleach Mary Hoade as she has to take submissions from nine additional councillors.

It has become unwieldy since the new council was elected last May. Meetings now have to take place in hotels outside the city which is incurring further costs.

Some questions have been asked about why the current Council chamber could not be transformed so as to accommodate the additional nine councillors.

It seems as if major structural works have to take place at County Hall in order to accommodate the additional nine members who were elected at the last local elections.

But in the meantime, Council meetings have to take place outside County Hall because ‘health and safety’ will not allow the 39 councillors to meet in the same chamber.

But even when the 39 councillors meet, it is a long drawn-out affair. It means that Council meetings are now much longer than they used to be.

It is not the fault of the individual councillors. The system is completely wrong. It is now based on population which has resulted in Galway County Council going from 30 councillors to 39.

It means that counties like Roscommon, Leitrim and Longford are taking a hit simply because they do not have the same population. They have had the number of elected representatives reduced because of their lack of population.

But now that Galway County Council has an additional nine members than it used to have, it means that meetings are longer and often more contentious.

At the recent budget meeting nearly all of the councillors made a contribution which resulted in nearly a three hour debate on the one issue.

When the officials responded to all of the queries, many of the 39 councillors wanted to get back in on the debate again which resulted in the meeting going on for several more hours.

It was part of local government reform to reduce the number of public representatives but in the case of County Galway they ended up with nine more than were previously elected.

While many dispute the effectiveness of local government, in the case of Galway County Council it has slowed up considerably because of the increased number on the authority.

It is a very difficult task for the Cathaoirleach Mary Hoade to conduct business in a more efficient manner while the officials are tied up answering more questions than they were previously used to.

There is a theory that the bigger the committee, the less work it can done. And in the case of the new Galway County Council, this appears to be certainly the position as it is just too big.