PRESS RELEASE
16th April 1999
The efficient spending of European money has been hindered by the inadequate structure of local government, said John Goodwillie, Green Party candidate for Crumlin-Kimmage. He was commenting on the report from the European Social Fund Evaluation Unit, which criticised the failure of partnerships and community groups to devote enough resources to the long-term unemployed. This report considered that too much time and effort had been spent on establishing themselves, and it stated: "It is our view that setting up became almost an aim in itself."
The KWCD Partnership operates in an area that stretches from the Dublin Corporation area into the South Dublin County Council area, and yet is some distance from the headquarters of both councils, John Goodwillie pointed out. "The city boundary passes in an irrational way through Kimmage and Walkinstown. More seriously, there is no separate local authority centering on the Crumlin area and capable of dealing with local matters. If such an authority existed, partnership arrangements could be easily attached to it instead of having to start from scratch. Offices could have been available and administrative workers in place instead of needing to be recruited.
"I don't wish to criticise the hard work carried out by those involved in the KWCD Partnership," he said, "but their efforts could have been more quickly devoted to getting results if they had had a more relevant system of local government to help them. The recent decision to add elected councillors to the Board does not meet the problem, which arises from restricting the work of local authorities and failing to create structures which would be close to the people."