Contents The Catch-Up Communities ....................................................................................................... 2 Where are the Catch-up Counties? ........................................................................................... 2 How Wicklow, Meath and Kildare fall behind ........................................................................... 4 How can we help the Catch-up Counties? ................................................................................. 5 What the data says: Population ................................................................................................. 6 Population Changes (absolute numbers) ............................................................................... 6 Population Changes (percentages) ........................................................................................ 7 What the data says: Allocations ................................................................................................ 8 Average Class Size (Primary School) ....................................................................................... 8 Local Primary and Community Care Staff .............................................................................. 9 Garda Numbers .................................................................................................................... 11 Commuting ........................................................................................................................... 12 Local Authority Expenditure ................................................................................................. 13 Local Authority Staff ............................................................................................................. 15 Local Authority Fire Services ................................................................................................ 16 Public Libraries ..................................................................................................................... 17 Local Authority Rents ........................................................................................................... 18 Local Authority Grants ......................................................................................................... 19 Satisfaction with Local Authorities ....................................................................................... 20 Sports Funding ...................................................................................................................... 21 Adult Literacy Funding ......................................................................................................... 22 1 The Catch-Up Phenomenon One of the basic functions of Government is to spend tax revenues fairly. Every part of Ireland should expect their fair share of these revenues and for state resources to be distributed on the basis of clearly identified needs. To help achieve this, we should have funding systems that are open, transparent, and match resources to these needs. Critically, emerging needs, and sound planning for these in terms of funding and workforce, should form a central part of all resourcing decisions. But the reality in Ireland is very different. Unfortunately, the evidence we outline in this document shows that Ireland’s resource allocation systems are completely imbalanced. In particular, current funding systems are not serving areas of high population growth with the result that several counties have fallen behind in a number of key public services. In effect, areas of high population growth are constantly playing catch-up as resources are stretched across ever growing numbers. This “catch-up” process dominates every aspect of life in these communities. It basically means that these communities are not getting their fair share of public services. They have been left behind. These are the catch-up communities. These are the catch-up counties. And it’s time they received the resources they deserve. Where are the Catch-up Counties? In this document, the Social Democrats want to shine a light on just how under-funded these catch-up communities are. We show how Ireland’s funding systems have disadvantaged areas of high population growth across a large number of public services. We show that, relative to the population they are serving, the catch-up communities have far fewer Gardaí, far fewer Teachers, far fewer community health staff, and far fewer Council staff. Catch-up communities fall behind on measures such as funding for adult literacy, sports, and basic Council services such as libraries and fire services. 2 And due to the lack of transport planning and investment in their areas, catch- up communities also typically have the longest average commuting times. We draw on a large number of sources to highlight this phenomenon. As most data available to us is available at county level, we are concentrating our analysis on that level. The data points heavily towards Meath and Kildare being the worst affected counties in Ireland. These counties are bottom of the pile on a broad range of basic public services such as Garda numbers, Pupil-Teacher ratios, health staff, Council staff, Council expenditure and fire services. They are also below average in almost every other measure. Much of the data also points to significant issues in Wicklow. Wicklow is one of the worst resourced counties in Ireland when it comes to Gardaí, Pupil- Teacher ratio, and local heath staff. It has the second worst commuting times in the country and is well below average in areas such as adult literacy and Council spending. Unfortunately, it is much more difficult to isolate disaggregated comparable data on individual communities within counties but we use such data where feasible. We are confident that what we show here is emulated in new communities right around the country in places such as Fingal, Galway County, Cork County, and South Dublin County Council, and in parts of Carlow, Louth, Laois, Westmeath, Wexford and other areas. We highlight these areas where the data allows. 3 How Wicklow, Meath and Kildare fall behind We’ve summarised the data presented in this document for these three counties, to show how they fare in the unfair allocation of resources, relative to their populations, against the national data. Gardaí Student/ Commute Local Local Fire Service (p/1000) Teacher Length Authority Authority Expenditure Ratio (mins) Spending Staff (per capita) (per (p/1000) capita) Wicklow 2.24 25.1 34.5 € 672 5.05 39.55 National 5th Worst 4th Worst 2nd Worst 3rd Worst Below Avg 5th Worst Ranking Meath 1.69 25.6 34.6 €568 3.54 31.56 National Worst Worst Worst Worst Worst 2nd Worst Ranking Kildare 1.78 25.5 33.8 €685 4.05 30.49 National 2nd Worst 2nd Worst 3rd Worst 4th Worst 2nd Worst Worst Ranking 4 How can we help the Catch-up Counties? Our proposals to achieve fair allocation of resources, drawn from the data presented here are: ➢ Ireland needs to completely re-model how we identify needs and allocate resources. It is vital that services and investments are allocated on the basis of planned population and identified need. This is particularly important in the context of the National Planning Framework and the National Development Plan that is allocating close to €120bn of tax payer funds over ten years. ➢ Ireland should allocate resources rationally and on the basis of pre-agreed criteria which should themselves be subject to review every three years. ➢ The direct allocation of resources to specific locations/regions should never be at the discretion of a Minister and should be kept completely separate from the political process. ➢ As part of re-modelling, and while we accept that there are many relevant determinants of need, population should be accepted as the starting point and given the greatest weighting in resource allocation. ➢ Ireland needs sustained investment in public services to meet service deficits and growing population across the country. But crucially, that investment needs to address existing imbalances. Allocations should not be on the basis of an “everyone in the audience” approach but be done based on identified needs and deficits. Allocations that are made on a county basis should be made with strong consideration of the existing population of that county and not merely on the basis of having County status. 5 What the data says: Population The following charts shows some of the data that demonstrates that the model of resource allocation across the country is no longer fit for purpose, if it ever was. Let’s start with population. We propose that population should be the starting point for deciding on fair allocation. The latest Census data by county available to us is 2016. Comparing that census with the census of 20 years previously gives us a picture of how population in Ireland has changed during that time. Population Changes (absolute numbers) The following graph shows that Fingal, Cork County, Kildare and Meath have had the highest population increases in absolute terms. Population increase 1996-2016 Fingal Kildare Dublin City Galway Co. Co Wicklow Laois Donegal Tipperary Clare Cavan Waterford City and… Mayo Carlow Longford Sligo Cork City 0 50000 100000 150000 Source: Central Statistics Office 6 Population Changes (percentages) The following graph shows the percentage increase in population during the same period. It highlights that Meath, Fingal, Kildare and Laois have experienced the highest population increases in percentage