Local authorities should have directly elected "executive mayors" who can drive progress while being accountable to the people, former European Parliament president Pat Cox has said.
Ireland should adopt a similar mayoral system to London and New York, and have an elected mayor who has the powers of a senior executive manager, Mr Cox told the annual conference of the Institute of Public Administration (IPA).
City and county mayors currently have similar powers to all other county and city councillors, while executive power, such as the ability to determine refuse collection charges, rests with the county and city manager, who is appointed rather than elected.
The 2005 report of the Democracy Commission, which was established to respond to concerns about the nature of democracy in Ireland, found that local government was characterised by a high level of control from central government, weak financial independence and a narrow range of powers.
The commission had proposed the introduction of directly elected executive mayors, but the Government had failed to act on the proposal, Mr Cox said.
"I strongly regret the failure of nerve and political will to provide for the direct election of executive mayors with real power to effect change locally and to become drivers and advocates for an exercise of government closer to the people."
The public service had been an essential part of Ireland's economic success, Mr Cox said.
However, people's new economic expectations were matched by greater expectations of what the public service should deliver.
He said: "As consumer-citizens, individuals expect more, better and quicker access to quality infrastructure and services today.
"They have lower tolerance for procrastination and non-delivery, and demand commensurately more accountability for failure."
The rising tide of affluence had not carried all boats. "If you are marginalised, the relative weight of being on the margins is even greater."
He said early school-leaving, for example, had always carried a higher risk of unemployment, but in the knowledge economy it was essentially a guarantee of unemployment.
While demand for better services might come from the more affluent sectors of society, he said it was those who had been excluded from the "fruits of affluence" who were more reliant on the public sector than ever before.
