The lack of power by local government, which is regarded as irrelevant by many citizens, will be one of the issues on the agenda at the 4th Annual Public Lecture Series, hosted by the Centre for Local and Regional Governance at UCC on Thursday 14 March.

The ratio of candidates to seats at Dáil elections is typically 3.5:1 while it falls to 2:1 for local elections. “Part of this can be explained by the fact that local government has so few powers and is regarded as irrelevant by many citizens,” according to Dr Aodh Quinlivan, Director of UCC’s Centre for Local and Regional Governance (CLRG).

Dr Aodh Quinlivan

The broad theme of the public lecture will focus on ‘Who Runs Local Government?’. It starts at 6.30pm on Thursday 14 March in Boole 1, University College Cork. with the launch of the CLRG Annual Report 2018 by Prof Patrick O’Shea, UCC President.

This will be followed by a brief presentation by Pat Ledwidge, Director of Strategic Planning and Economic Development in Cork City Council, about the ‘National Planning Framework: Ireland 2040’ and opportunities for Cork in the context of the aforementioned boundary extension.