Irish Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley has acknowledged the central role played by local authorities in meeting the challenges posed by Ireland's unprecedented economic and population growth over the last decade.

Speaking at the Annual Conference of the Local Authority Members Association (LAMA) the Minister pointed out that as our population is expected to exceed five million by 2020 these challenges were not only set to continue, but would if anything, accelerate into the future.

The forthcoming Green Paper on Local Government and its follow-on agenda, will be designed to help equip local authorities to face the future with confidence.

However, the Minister emphasised that "reform is not just about new powers – it is also about taking a fresh approach to old powers".

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In this context, he called on local authorities to plan for this anticipated growth by using the full range of powers available to them and highlighted the pivotal role played by local authority members as stewards of the planning system.

The Minister said: "We need a planning system that achieves consistently high quality outcomes for communities. This is a goal that I know I share with you and it is one that can be largely achieved by using existing powers."

He added that he was considering some further measures to ensure greater consistency in policy formulation and implementation between national, regional and local planning.

Minister Gormley also paid tribute to councillors for adopting the social partnership model at local level through the Strategic Policy Committees and for their contribution to the work of County/City Development Boards in coordinating the delivery of services at local level. He also emphasised the importance of training and development programmes for councillors. However, in this context, he expressed some concern at the level of engagement by some councillors at certain conferences and seminars and, on occasion, their relevance.

He stressed that attendance should be measured against certain criteria, including the relevance of the occasion to the role of the councillor, value for money and the possibility of meeting training and developments needs closer to home, such as in an in-house setting.

(VB/JM)