{"id":51,"date":"2005-01-01T19:45:30","date_gmt":"2005-01-01T18:45:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2005\/01\/letter-to-editor-local-government-reform\/"},"modified":"2008-07-11T14:11:47","modified_gmt":"2008-07-11T13:11:47","slug":"letter-to-editor-local-government-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2005\/01\/letter-to-editor-local-government-reform\/","title":{"rendered":"Letter to Editor &#8211; Local Government Reform"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Editor<br \/>\nLetters Page<br \/>\nSouthside People<\/p>\n<p>Dear Editor,<\/p>\n<p>I have no wish to get involved in the internal affairs of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, but Mairead Mehigan, Chairperson Dun Laoghaire An Taisce (letters SouthSide People) should not get too downhearted by their failure to secure places on the new Strategic Policy Committees.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Sadlly, far from these Committees being the engines of activity, delivery and a reformed Local Government system, they are in fact part of the deliberate downgrading of Local Government itself, engineered by a Department of State hostile to every one of the adjectives in its title, &#8220;Environment, Heritage and Local Government&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Of course we need real Local Government in Ireland and we need the involvement of organisations such as An Taisce. However the mirage of &#8220;reform&#8221; of Strategic Policy Committees, Corporate Policy Groups and City and County Development Boards forced through by the bureacrats in the Custom House are not the answer.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of arguing for the limited places available on largely irrelevant SPC&#8217;s An Taisce should join with those of us committed to real Local Government reform with as an immdiate step a cross-council elected Dublin Regional Authority and a directly elected Mayor for all Dublin.<\/p>\n<p>Yours sincerely,<\/p>\n<p>Councillor Dermot Lacey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Editor Letters Page Southside People Dear Editor, I have no wish to get involved in the internal affairs of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, but Mairead Mehigan, Chairperson Dun Laoghaire An Taisce (letters SouthSide People) should not get too downhearted by their failure to secure places on the new Strategic Policy Committees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-lettersed"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Letter to Editor - Local Government Reform - Councillor Dermot Lacey<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2005\/01\/letter-to-editor-local-government-reform\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Letter to Editor - Local Government Reform - Councillor Dermot Lacey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Editor Letters Page Southside People Dear Editor, I have no wish to get involved in the internal affairs of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, but Mairead Mehigan, Chairperson Dun Laoghaire An Taisce (letters SouthSide People) should not get too downhearted by their failure to secure places on the new Strategic Policy Committees.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/dermotlacey.ie\/blog\/2005\/01\/letter-to-editor-local-government-reform\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Councillor Dermot Lacey\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/profile.php?id=100064479804399\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2005-01-01T18:45:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2008-07-11T13:11:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Webmaster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@LaceyDermot\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Webmaster\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/dermotlacey.ie\\\/blog\\\/2005\\\/01\\\/letter-to-editor-local-government-reform\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/dermotlacey.ie\\\/blog\\\/2005\\\/01\\\/letter-to-editor-local-government-reform\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Webmaster\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/dermotlacey.ie\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/c64cc588c5df31b1138bc99a10ce014c\"},\"headline\":\"Letter to Editor &#8211; 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I have served as Cathaoirleach of the Dublin Regional Authority, the Southern and Eastern Regional Assembly and the Eastern and Midlands Regional Assembly. The only person to chair all three. I pioneered the 20% Social and Affordable Housing concept though the Dublin Docklands Development MasterPlan and have established a housing co-op in my own area and am a Board member of an Approved Housing Body. I was for ten years Chairperson of the South Dublin\\\/Wicklow Branch of the Irish Foster Care Association. Clubs and Committees Currently on Dublin City Council I Chair the South East Area Committee and the Housing Strategic Policy Committee. I am Board member of Donnybrook Community Employment and Sandymount Community Services, Donnybrook Community Playschool and numerous other local, community and Dublin wide organisations. I am member of the Board of Scouting Ireland, the City of Dublin Education and Training Board and the Royal Hospital Donnybrook Board. 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