Interview with Pauline Mulligan, Chief Executive of the LGMA

In this interview, we hear from Pauline Mulligan, the recently appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Local Government Management Agency (LGMA). Pauline is an accomplished professional with a wealth of experience in the public sector. She is committed to driving excellence and innovation across Ireland’s local authorities.

The LGMA is a State agency that provides a range of professional services for and on behalf of local authorities; local authority chief executives; the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and other government departments. It works collaboratively with all 31 local authorities to support the coordinated and cost-effective delivery of local government services and policy. It also helps local authorities to implement change and enhance performance. The LGMA was established in 2012 and is an agency of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. It is primarily funded by the 31 local authorities.

1. Tell us about yourself and your journey into local government. What attracted you to the position at the LGMA?

I joined the Department of Industry and Commerce when I left college, having studied Economics, Sociology and Politics in University College Galway, and pretty much stayed in that department until I joined the LGMA in January of this year. I worked across policy, operations and corporate and always had interesting assignments. This included a few years in Brussels as industry attaché in the Permanent Representation of Ireland to the EU, when technically I was on secondment to the Department of Foreign Affairs. A lot of the jobs I had over the years involved cross-Departmental and Agency collaboration, including national science policy, Brexit and Covid. It also included working with local government on embedding a culture of innovation in the broader public service in 2018, and my knowledge of and interest in the sector has grown since then. More recently, I had responsibility for oversight of Enterprise Ireland, including the 31 Local Enterprise Offices and the nine Regional Enterprise Plans, supported by Programme Managers – these involved a lot of engagement with the local authorities. The Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment also relied on local authorities to deliver grants to business during Covid, and more recently to address the cost of doing business. We worked through the LGMA to agree the approach and to provide appropriate governance around these schemes. I have always been very impressed with the adaptiveness and agility of the sector in responding to these new demands. 

2. How will your experience with local government guide your vision for the LGMA as Chief Executive?

My experience has shown that a culture of collaboration is very strong already within and across the sector and between local and central government. I would like to continue that and build on it. That includes working with our parent Department, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, through an inter-departmental group that they chair. This has representatives from all Government departments that run initiatives, programmes and projects through the local authorities. There are lots of examples of good practice in engaging with local authorities, which deliver more than 1,100 services to the public. If we can identify the good practice and develop templates for engagements, this will make for more efficient and effective agreements between central and local government and lead to better services for the public. I want to continue that collaborative approach to working with other Government departments and agencies, to our mutual benefit.

3. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing local government, and how will the LGMA help local authorities navigate these challenges?

There are many challenges, but every challenge also brings with it opportunity and I prefer to frame it in the positive. The main challenges I see facing local government include delivering more housing, meeting our climate targets, strengthening local democracy and competing for talent. I address what the LGMA is doing to support local authorities to deliver more housing later, but the LGMA’s role in this and in other issues, for example, climate change, is to provide policy advice and operational support for local authorities. We do that by supporting the day-to-day work of the County and City Management Association (CCMA). This happens through plenary and committee structures dedicated to specific topics, such as the environment, waste management, transport, economic development and emergency planning response, including to severe weather events. In relation to strengthening local democracy, we look forward to inputting into the Taskforce on Local Democracy, which will be established soon by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, as committed to in the Programme for Government. As with other issues, our role will be to assist in providing the evidence base in relation to how local democracy works now and to assist the CCMA in providing a coherent policy input to the work of the Taskforce. I think more broadly, there is an opportunity for the sector to be more proactive in influencing Government policy that impacts it and the LGMA can provide a stronger role in facilitating that.  Another key area of focus for us right now is to attract and retain talent in the sector, working with local authorities to make sure we are an employer of choice and offer career paths for people to progress within the sector. One of the big advantages the local government sector has is the citizen-impact of our work, which provides for great job satisfaction. Local government can also often offer flexible working arrangements and there is great variety in the work we do.

4. How important is collaboration and knowledge sharing among Ireland’s local authorities? How does the LGMA support this?

I think this is a huge area of strength and further opportunity for the sector. Each local authority is independent by statute, but they face the same challenges, albeit in different contexts, depending on whether they are in an urban or rural area, with larger or smaller populations. There is so much they can learn from each other: through the LGMA’s engagement with local authorities, we identify and share best practice in a range of ways. This includes formal identification and dissemination of examples of innovative approaches they have taken, through hosting formal and informal networks, for example, in health and safety, HR, FOI, GDPR, Design Thinking, or indeed communications. This often manifests in a conference or online events to bring local authority staff together, so we can showcase best practice and facilitate engagement, where they can learn from each other. Also, when we represent the sector in Industrial Relations issues in the Workplace Relations Commission or the Labour Court, we are constantly building up a data bank of experience and information, which can be applied across the wider sector. There are also 38 shared services, which are either hosted in the LGMA, in lead local authorities or delivered through regional offices, and these provide an opportunity for knowledge and expertise to be developed centrally and shared across the wider sector. This could be in waste management/enforcement, or dealing with fees or assets for road management, library facilities or dog licenses. A new one coming on stream is the electoral registration system – the introduction of a central shared repository will mean that for the first time in Ireland, the registration process will be supported by a single secured electoral register database. This will enable local authorities to reduce issues of duplicate/erroneous records and standardise data protection, security provision and data-sharing across the sector. Good communication with the citizen is key to effective local government – we coordinate and provide communications advice to communications personnel across the 31 local authorities, and we deliver national communications on behalf of the sector. We have also developed a central website on behalf of the sector, LocalGov.ie, which provides citizens with a central point to access information about local authorities.

5. Building upon the central placement of local authorities in the Programme for Government, how can the LGMA empower local authorities in addressing housing and infrastructure ambitions?

Since 2020, at the request of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, we have had a Housing Delivery Coordination Office in the LGMA. Its original remit was to help coordinate and streamline the delivery of social housing, collate and disseminate up-to-date information, and support the adoption of innovative, modern and cost-effective methods of delivery. While the initial focus was on social housing delivery, the remit of the office has been expanded over the last few years to include affordable housing, collation of data on local authority landbanks, energy retrofit of the existing stock of social housing, co-ordination of the government accelerated delivery programme, as well as managing and developing further ICT systems to support delivery. The team monitors the pipeline of both social and affordable housing delivery, managing repositories of information on local authority housing lands, and provides assistance and coordination to local authorities on project budgeting procurement methodologies. The office is a key local authority liaison point for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, as well as other agencies, including the Housing Agency, the Land Development Agency, Approved Housing Bodies, the ESB, and Uisce Éireann. As the demand for housing continues to grow, I have no doubt that the role of the HDCO will continue to evolve, in particular in the context of the establishment of the Housing Activation Office in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and a new infrastructure division within the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. The HDCO works very closely with the CCMA Housing, Planning and Land Use committees, as the chief executives and teams in local authorities are on the front line in terms of delivery. A lot of expertise has been built up in the team over recent years and there is a clear understanding in the sector as to the factors that impact delivery. This includes suitable serviced and zoned land, infrastructure capacity, appropriate resources, and arrangements with delivery partners. The new offices being set up should accelerate clearing those blockages for housing and broader infrastructure delivery, and the HDCO stands ready to support them.

6. What do you consider the key ingredients in cultivating a culture of innovation, adaptability and resilience within the LGMA and the local government sector as a whole?

When I first started working on embedding a culture of innovation in the public sector, the local authority sector was one that was way ahead. When we established the Public Sector Innovation Fund as part of this work, there was never a shortage of projects to compete for the funding. If anything, there was not enough funding available to support all the great ideas coming from the sector. So, I think continuous improvement is in the DNA of the sector, but we do need to nourish and support that. As leaders in the sector, we need to ensure there are processes and systems to support these new ideas, we need to be brave and open to change, while managing associated risks. The Programme Management Office within the LGMA has a key role here in taking new ideas and working on them with input from the sector, incubating and developing, trialling and testing and ultimately moving forward with those that are a success. However, we need to be brave about those that aren’t working, or change course where things aren’t working. We need appropriate governance around all of this because we are using taxpayers’ money and need to get good value as well. We need to inform our approach with the necessary evidence, carry out the research to establish baselines, be clear about deliverables and milestones, and have the necessary KPIs in place. We have a Central Data Unit within the LGMA and a dedicated research team to focus on this – I think this is an area we will see growing in future years. The other growth area will be delivery of online services for the citizen. Our Digital & ICT Strategy includes a target to digitise 90% of applicable services by 2030 and we have a team headed by our Chief Information Officer, who is leading on delivering that for the sector and for the LGMA. However, we also need to continue to engage more broadly across the wider public service. Most recently, we have inputted into the development of public sector guidelines on the use of Artificial Intelligence and I think this type of collaboration across the wider system helps to keep us fresh and up to date in our thinking, as well as sharing our own expertise.

7. Community engagement is becoming increasingly important for local authorities. What strategies will you pursue to ensure local authorities have closer connections with their communities?

There are many areas in the LGMA that are specifically focused on embedding local authorities in their communities. These include the Libraries Development team, Town Centre First team and the work of the Social Inclusion and Integration team, which supports coordinated local authority activity for international protection applicants, beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine, and other refugees. The Integration Team provide coordination for the activities of 150 staff in local authority integration teams. They train the teams, support them to network and share good practice, provide guidance for them, and also manage the Offer a Home scheme and accompanying accommodation recognition payment.

The LGMA also hosts the national office for Town Centre First, which is headed by the National Coordinator. This is an initiative of the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Town Centre First is all about placemaking, community development and well-being. Based on evidence, it provides a framework for developing a strategic shared vision and action-focused plan for the town, led by the community. The plan is then supported by the town team in collaboration with the local authority, who together leverage funding for specific projects. The National Office engages with a broad range of stakeholders to ensure joined-up thinking across the sector – Government departments and agencies, and other key national stakeholders – in addition to hosting Town Centre First network events for town teams to share best practice and learn from each other. The project is still in pilot mode, with 26 town regeneration officers appointed and more than 130 towns and villages participating. The Departments are currently reviewing progress so far to determine the future of the Town Centre First initiative, but the Programme for Government does commit to resourcing the model as part of the effort to tackle vacancy, regenerating our towns and villages, making them vibrant places to live, work and visit.

The Libraries Development team in the LGMA is responsible for working with stakeholders in developing and leading the delivery of our national library strategy called ‘The Library is the Place’. We do this work in collaboration with the local authorities on behalf of the Department of Rural and Community Development, overseeing 330 public libraries and 23 mobile libraries, with more than 1,600 staff nationwide. The latest figures show that 15.3% of the population are registered users, but we have lots of initiatives to try to grow that.  Our vision in the strategy is for our public libraries to lead in enabling and supporting people across all communities to be informed, connected, literate individuals, skilled for life. We want to use the service to enrich the lives of people and communities by providing universal access to information and resources to promote reading and enjoyment, lifelong learning, life skills, education and cultural engagement.

8. How do you intend to maintain and strengthen LGMA’s relationships with local authority chief executives and other key stakeholders?

Since I started the role at the beginning of January, one of the main areas I have been focused on is getting to know the people, as well as the brief. For me, this is the most rewarding part of the role. We have many stakeholders in the LGMA, but local authority chief executives are the most important, as our core mandate is to support them. I personally spend a lot of time nurturing those relationships and I speak to them daily. They know they can pick up the phone to me or any one of my team to get support, advice or assistance at any time. In the same vein, I spend a lot of time engaging with other key stakeholders, including our parent Department, other Government departments or sister agencies. We are a central point of contact for those who want to find out about what local authorities are doing in a particular area or how to engage with local authorities, and we can help stakeholders with that. The LGMA’s current corporate plan expires at the end of this year, and we are devising a process to develop our next plan. This will involve a lot of engagement internally with staff in the LGMA and with all of our external stakeholders. It gives us a great opportunity to take stock of what we do, how we do it and how we can improve on that over the period ahead to 2030. It’s an exciting time to be CEO of the Agency and I look forward to developing a shared vision which we can work together to deliver.