I am delighted and privileged to have been elected by my colleagues as one of four Councillors to represent Ireland on the Council of Europe. I will be a member of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities. I will be serving on the Governance Committee of the Council which deals with effectiveness and inclusiveness of local government throughout the Council of Europe member states including citizen participation, trans-frontier co-operation, and related matters.
I look forward to sharing the best of Ireland’s local government practice and bring back the learning from European colleagues, who, in the main, have much stronger devolution and local participation than is the case in Ireland.
