Local government offers the electorate the broadest base for democratic representation available within our constitution.

Local election constituencies are much smaller than Dáil constituencies and, thus, generally cover much more recognisable and coherent geographic areas. This allows voices that are often drowned out in general elections to be heard and represented at a local level.

Local government deals, in a very direct way, with issues that affect people’s lives: housing, refuse collection, traffic, public spaces, play areas for children and teenagers, libraries, childcare, etc. And the central debate on all these issues is whether Council policy is driven by building speculators, by private sector childcare providers, by multi-national refuse collection companies or whether the policy is driven by the real needs of society, of communities, of families and of individuals.

The Workers’ Party totally opposes the developer-led, private profit led model of housing and other public services. Instead, we stand for a model of local government driven by the need to provide decent public housing, decent public facilities, and a healthy environment.

In our manifesto, entitled The Future is Public, the Workers’ Party offers a comprehensive and workable set of solutions on all these issues. Furthermore, we set out a plan for the reform and democratisation of local government, which will allow local democracy to flourish and local government to function efficiently.

You can read and/or download our manifesto by clicking here.