Festive fun

In the midst of the Galway Arts Festival and Project '06 at the moment, city teeming with crowds and the new museum open, with the heatwave and sunny days taking a short break today to allow refreshing breeze and rain showers to keep everyone cool. Nice state to return to from my French sojourn. Once properly unpacked (and culturally re-adapted) I'll be contributing to this blog with reflections on life here and following up on a number of schemes and initiatives focussing on quality of life, social justice and active citizenship.

Topic of the day:

Of course, one can't avoid comparisons on returning from abroad and a recurring theme for me is local democracy and devolved administration - something that Ireland, in comparison to many other countries, really appears to lack. Local councils here have extremely limited powers - or at least I mean the elected councillors as opposed to the council officers.

Curiously, there's a rather idiosyncratic use of the word "decentralisation" here that implies simply taking a shotgun scattering approach to various government offices and spreading them around the country. A geographical decentralisation perhaps but certainly not a decentralisation of political power and economic responsibility. How would a (properly) more decentralised Ireland look? Restore Galway as a mini city-state? Able to tackle issues such as public transport, schooling and social service provision directly without long-drawn out negotiations with offices in Dublin, the city could flourish as well as take action to meet the needs of the wide range of communities that live here, particularly those unseen by the festival crowds.

Discuss.....