The Programme for Government pledged to establish a Local Democracy Taskforce, and the members were recently appointed.

Amongst other things, the Taskforce will explore the possibly of reintroducing Town Councils in large town across the country.

Earlier this month, Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD, stated that he wants to re-establish Town Councils across the country within three years, saying there would have been a more immediate community response, for example, to the floods in Midleton if the local council had been in place.

As a strong critic of the decision to abolish Town Councils in 2014, I am encouraged by this statement and the formation of the Taskforce.

If local government is not local, then it is nothing.

Local government exists for two primary reasons - as a provider of local public services and as an instrument of local democracy to give expression to community self-government.

This is based on the principle of subsidiarity, which states that as many powers and functions as possible should be devolved to the level closest to the citizen.

Ireland has signed up to the principle of subsidiarity under the Council of........

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