Active Citizenship and Local Representational Politics in Twenty-First Century Ireland: The Role of Residents Groups within Dublin's Planning Arena

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between active citizenship at a local level and the workings of local government, focusing on urban planning processes in the Greater Dublin Area, Ireland. The paper argues that to fully understand the role of community actors within urban planning, there is a need to look beyond the institutions of planning and formal avenues of decision-making to examine the overlapping, disorganized and informal practices that are increasingly mobilized to influence planning outcomes. We argue that a key motivation for community action within our case study areas relates to the perceived failure in traditional representative democracy in managing rapid urban growth and addressing quality of life concerns of local residents. Rather than collaborate with the state in organized planning arenas, community actors play a key role in informal politics both outside and against the state, leading to tensions between state efforts to promote active citizenship and the resultant community action.

Acknowledgement

The authors would wish to thank the generous financial support of the Royal Irish Academy's Third Sector Research Programme for funding this research project.

Notes

Measured by looking at those who undertook any type of unpaid, regular voluntary activity or service outside the home or workplace in the last 12 months.

Measured by looking at those who were actively involved in any type of voluntary or community group in the last 12 months; active involvement includes attending meetings, being a committee member or taking responsibility for some activity.

The Flood Tribunal was established in 1997 to investigate planning corruption and continues today as the Mahon Tribunal. The tribunals have uncovered corrupt planning practices in a series of high profile rezoning cases in edge-city locations.

In the Irish local government system, local authority functions are legally categorized as “reserved” (which are the responsibility of councillors) and “executive” functions (the responsibility of the County/City Manager).