Participatory Budgeting (IE0040)

To enable further citizen engagement in local authority budgeting Objective: Undertake a feasibility study on possible means of enabling further citizen engagement in local authority budgetary processes. Status quo: The budgetary process established under the Local Government Reform Act 2014, will be considered in the context of a further programme of local government reform and development to be undertaken pursuant to the Programme for a Partnership Government for the purpose of a report for Government and the Oireachtas by mid-2017 on potential measures to boost local government leadership and accountability, and to ensure that local government funding, structures and responsibilities strengthen local democracy. Having regard to these active considerations it is considered that the opportunity for the timely commencement of this action and the means by which further citizen engagement might be enhanced will be informed by this process. Ambition: The results of the feasibility study will inform and guide the next steps on how further citizen engagement in local authority budgetary processes can be facilitated. Lead implementing organisation: Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government Timeline: January 2017 to December 2017.
Commitment 7: Support Public Participation Networks OGP values Civic participation, Public accountability New or ongoing commitment New Lead implementation organisations Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government Other actors involved - government National PPN Advisory Group, Local Authorities, The Association of Irish Local Government (AILG) and the County and City Managers’ Association Verifiable and measurable milestones to fulfil the commitment New or ongoing Start date End date Association of Irish Local Government (AILG) & County and City Managers’ Association to undertake feasibility study, in consultation with key stakeholders, on enabling further citizen engagement in local authority budgetary processes. New January 2017 December 2017.

7. Participatory Budgeting

Commitment Text:

Objective: Undertake a feasibility study on possible means of enabling further citizen engagement in local authority budgetary processes.

Status quo: The budgetary process established under the Local Government Reform Act 2014, will be considered in the context of a further programme of local government reform and development to be undertaken pursuant to the Programme for a Partnership Government for the purpose of a report for Government and the Oireachtas by mid-2017 on potential measures to boost local government leadership and accountability, and to ensure that local government funding, structures and responsibilities strengthen local democracy. Having regard to these active considerations it is considered that the opportunity for the timely commencement of this action and the means by which further citizen engagement might be enhanced will be informed by this process.

Ambition: The results of the feasibility study will inform and guide the next steps on how further citizen engagement in local authority budgetary processes can be facilitated.

Milestone:

7.1. Association of Irish Local Government (AILG) & County and City Managers’ Association to undertake feasibility study, in consultation with key stakeholders, on enabling further citizen engagement in local authority budgetary processes.

Responsible institution: Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government

Supporting institutions: National PPN Advisory Group, Local Authorities, The Association of Irish Local Government (AILG) and the County and City Managers’ Association

Start date: January 2017

End date: December 2017

Context and Objectives

While Ireland is a unitary state where the Treasury is based at the central level of government, public funds spent at the local level are important because they ‘fund essential local services such as, public parks; libraries; open spaces and leisure amenities; planning and development; fire and emergency services; maintenance and cleaning of streets and street lighting.’[Note: See the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, Local Government Finance here: http://www.housing.gov.ie/local-government/administration/finance/local-government-finance. ] The Local Government Reform Act of 2014 provided for a major restructuring of the institutional structures of local government.[Note: For full details, see: http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/2014/si/215/made/en/pdf. ] Extending this reform, this commitment aims to bring citizens into the local authority budgetary processes by performing a feasibility study with stakeholders to examine how to enable further engagement by citizens in the budgetary process.

The feasibility study envisaged in this commitment would involve consultations with stakeholders, thus making the commitment relevant to the OGP value of civic participation. The specificity of the commitment is low; it has a clear objective to perform a feasibility study, but it does not fully outline how stakeholders will be consulted and what type and volume of evidence will be deemed sufficient to make any firm conclusions. While participatory budgeting is an important component for civic participation, a feasibility study for participatory budgeting will not, in itself, lead to greater participation. Therefore, the potential impact is marked as minor.

Completion

Implementation of this commitment has not started and is behind schedule. The government has indicated this lack of implementation in its progress report on the commitment, although it also stated that draft terms of reference have been prepared in the following broad thematic areas: understanding participatory budgeting; understanding the local authority budget process; and feasibility of participatory budgeting in an Irish local government context. Social Justice Ireland expressed concern that little progress has been made on this commitment, calling for it to be implemented as soon as possible.[Note: See: https://consult.ogpireland.ie/ga/submission/CVQ-258/observation/participatory-budgeting-must-be-expedited-promote-real-public. ] Given that the action plan has an end date of December 2017 to complete the feasibility study, the commitment is clearly behind schedule. Nor is the nature of consultations with key stakeholders fully clear from the government report—a key indicator given the wording of the milestone.

Next Steps

This commitment was carried forward from Ireland’s first action but has yet to begin. However, there is evidence of public interest in the concept of participatory budgeting, as seen in a recent open discussion in October 2017 by the Social Democrats, which examined how participatory budgeting could work.[Note: See: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/democratising-dublin-tickets-39036738937#. ] The IRM researcher recommends that if the feasibility study is not completed, the study should be carried forward into the next plan. If it is expected to be completed by the end of second year, then a modified commitment to advance legislation to guarantee citizen participation in the budgetary process is recommended for the next action plan.

For commitment details, see https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Ireland_End-Term_...