LAST UPDATE | 1 Jul 2024

THE TERM DEMOCRACY is perhaps one of the most easy to grasp yet beautifully complex terms in modern usage. Every few years, we get to see the inner machinations of what is essentially a theory laid bear on the sprung floors of community halls, dancehalls and basketball courts across this country of ours.

All emotions are on display, tension, hope, excitement and ennui as diligent counters collate what are the express desires of the voting population of this country.

We end up with mostly middle aged men looking awkward as they are raised up upon the shoulders of their over excited supports. We say that John was ‘on the door step, he listened to the people’ and that is why he has won the seat on the council. John tells us that he ‘now has a mandate from the people’ and that he is keen to ‘get to work’. All of his newly minted councillor colleagues also have mandates from the same people and are also keen to get to work.

What now?

The halls have gone quiet since, the reporters have moved on, many of them with their lips whetted for a general election. From now on, the ‘real work will start’. Newly formed councils will meet, John’s, Mary’s, Hazel’s and Tomás’s, one-quarter of them for the first time will have sit at their first council meeting ready to put the desire and will of their people to work. The people have spoken, these 949 councillors will carry that voice forward and for some of them, the surprise will be that no one is listening.

We know that as well as we do the mechanics of democracy the true essence of it is rarely achieved in this country. Two things stand in the way of the people’s voice. The first is the fact that at a local level, we don’t really trust the people that have been elected. The second is that at a national level, we don’t really trust what anyone has to say at the local level.

These two realities affect our daily lives in ways that require constant reminding. Everything from hospitals to traffic, from childcare to housing and the one that will really affect us all, the environment, are being ineffectively tackled for these very reasons.

The lack of trust in the democratic will at the local level is reflected in the veritably unparalleled level of managerialism in the local authority system in Ireland. I have had the opportunity to sit down and interview power brokers from many different sectors from representatives from the world’s largest multinational corporations to civil society advocates to artists and entrepreneurs — a summation of their reflections is that power is split 80-20. Key decisions on activities undertaken at the local authority level are 80% of the time decided on by non-elected public servants, while the ‘people’s people’ might get to have their say (reflecting the desire of the electorate) 20% of the time.

Too often cast as shadowy activities in the hallways of power, this is just the reality of how to keep the lights on in a local authority system that is one of the most underfunded in all of Europe. In terms of centralisation, Ireland sits just above Victor Orban’s Hungary in the league table. For Denmark, the figure is 65% for Ireland it is just over 8% — that is how much of the national budget that Copenhagen and Dublin trust local agencies to spend at the local level.

Is Ireland growing up?

The degree of centralisation in Ireland is taken as a given, 100 years and more since we threw off the yoke of empire, the degree of centralisation is arguably one of the most prescient reminders of our colonial past. To the argument that we tried to decentralise in the past and what it didn’t go well, I would say that was the expected behaviour of a young State unsure of its place in the world. I would argue that Ireland of 2024 is a very different place, confident in itself, proud of its reputation, open to criticism and increasingly aware of where it is making mistakes. I would say that for this Ireland, one of enviable economic (sometimes social) metrics to achieve its full potential and truly become a functioning democracy where citizens see the impact of their votes we need to trust in their voice, empower their representatives and plan from a place-based perspective.

We have the workings of a fine democratic system — one that reflects well the will of the people. Across the water, Nigel Farage’s party has overtaken the Tories in opinion polls, but the most seats that his party can hope to attain is six (out of 650). Where our system comes undone is the translation of that will the people into action. While past legislation has tinkered around the edges, planned legislation going through the Dáil hopes to make our planning system more efficient, we need to consider how effectively the State is acting on the desire of its people. Citizens assemblies have shown a willingness by the State to experiment in this area. We need to go further. The biggest fear in any democracy has to be apathy. A lack of willingness to engage undermines the whole system. Creating a better transition from ballot paper to action has to start with empowering the people who have been elected.

We need to make more space for the development of a system that better represents voice. Today’s world is very different, from the constant rolling new cycle to the spreading of ideas and idylls on social media.

We need a system that is not subject to but better reflects the speed of change. Empowering our democratic institutions at the local level is the most effective way to implement change and the best way of ensuring that the only buzz in community centres across the land is not just experienced once every five years.

Pat Collins is Associate Professor in Geography at the University of Galway.