Local Elections 2019- Long Term Sustainability of Communities Must Be Focus For Candidates

Shane Conneely, Senior Policy & Research Executive at Chambers Ireland, outlines the long-term, sustainable policies which our network thinks Local Authority candidates should be focusing on.

Chambers Ireland has published our Local Election Manifesto as a resource to inform the prospective local authority members about the policy concerns of the Chambers network that relate to local government. Also, we want to highlight some of the actions that local government can take to improve the quality of life, and the business environment in our local areas.

We believe that all incoming Local Authority members need to take a view towards the long-term sustainability of our communities, our country, and our planet. Member Chambers in our network have been active in Ireland for over 200 years. This lends a long-term perspective to how we look at the economy and the world we live in.

We call on voters to ask their candidates the hard questions about the long-term future of their areas:
1. How the candidates intend to deliver sustainable infrastructure and housing for your community?
2. What will they do to support local economic development?
3. How will their policies help adapt our economy to decarbonisation?

With their important remit over planning, Local Authorities have a huge role to play in changing where we build our homes, what kind of homes they will be, and the transport/social infrastructure which will support the lives we will live there.