Promoting Social Inclusion of People with Disabilities at the Local Level Sean O’Riordain Faculty of Geography National University of Ireland, Maynooth

Local Government in Ireland  29 County Councils, 5 City Councils  80 Town Councils  1,500 County/City and Town Councillors  33,500 staff  €10billion annual spend  45% daily spend  57.6% self funded

Local Government (2)  Low representation levels  Limited financial discretion due to national priorities  Increasing range of tasks  Limited local-national dialogue

What Local Government Does…(1)  Provides a local democratic framework and through it an entry to national politics;  Provides the local representational role and underpins local identity;  Provides direct public services to residents, visitors and investors within a local context;  Delivers on an agency basis for the State, national services more appropriately delivered at a local level;  Facilitates public and private investment.

What Local Government Does…(2)  Provides the spatial planning context within which future development takes place;  Provides the local platform through which social and cultural diversity is facilitated and nurtured;  Regulates in various instances economic and environmental issues as well as providing local consumer protection;  Facilitates, on behalf of the State, the co- ordination of local, rural and community development.

Proper Planning & Sustainable Development  National Development Plan  Towards 2016  Delivering Better Government: Transforming Public Services-Citizen Centred-Performance focused  National Sustainable Development Strategy  National Spatial Strategy  Local Government and Local Development  National Action Plan for Social Inclusion  Barcelona Declaration  Disability Act Implementation Plans  Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal

Reforming local services…  Creation of a City/County Wide Data base on Public Service delivery and the elimination of duplication of same;  Identification of Joint Service Initiatives and the coordination of public funded services across Public Agencies;  Consideration of proposals towards the migration of public service delivery towards a county based delivery regime;  Consideration of the enhancement of local government and other agencies to lead, coordinate and delivery services on behalf of other agencies.

Role in Social Inclusion  Statutory Responsibilities i.e. housing provision/planning  Non statutory i.e. community development  Increasing Accessibility-physical and political/participative  Consultative framework/Inter-Agency Service delivery  Innovation in working with communities facing disadvantage  Bringing the local experience to the national policy table

The Challenges for local government  Recognition of the range and variety of the stakeholders, the inter-organisational networks and the diversity of cultural identities found within both;  The recognition that the process of governance takes place within both formal and informal structures of governance;  The recognition of a need to create innovation and provide for mechanisms which encourage initiative;  The fostering of inclusion;  The creation of an open, accountable systems of governance…to re-responsibilise…

The Immediate Problem….  Considerable pressures on local financing  Loss of staff…1,000 to date and counting  Reduction in national initiatives and funding  Prospect of structural reform

Fostering Inclusion  Considerable progress  Institutional framework largely in place  Distance to go on embedding Elected Members into the area  Move from information networks to decision empowered networks- collaboration  Substantial budget provision towards inclusion