Federalisation/Decentralisation of Irish Politics

I've never heard of any policy along those lines. Why do you ask?

I *had* written a long post about this because in a previous job, I had to research and analyse the local government system to develop radical proposals for its reform.

The Green Party (God bless them) are firmly behind real local government. John Gormley, as Minister for the Environment and Local Government, led a local government reform 'White Paper' process to lead "the biggest reform of local government in the history of the state". It didn't go anywhere as FF didn't want to cede the power it has centralised in its interests since the foundation of the 'Republic'.

Previously, The Local Government Act (2001) led to some structural change - more functions (i.e. services like road maintenance, water systems, etc.) were transferred to local authorities. But this didn't come with the necessary funding, particularly the need for local authorities to have the power to raise their own taxes.

I believe a complex society like ours needs real, democratic local government for a whole range of reasons. We're certainly not too small for it.