Could Cork be ‘Independent’? 

Lovely video Polysee. Extremely high quality production and content overall. Great to see Irish channels doing so well. We need more Irish content creators

Forget about #cexit, it's all about Ireland #uncorked

Speaking as a Canadian, "localism" can also screw you right over. The overburdening of our provinces with complete responsibility for policing, infrastructure, healthcare, education, power generation, etc leaves provinces with smaller economies out in the cold while leading to more spending overall than if certain responsibilities were more centralized. Not to mention that while the federal government is fiscally sovereign, provincial governments aren't, meaning the provinces have to either rely on higher federal grants or higher taxes as they can't issue their own money. Now we can't do higher centralization due to many many political barriers but the reality is that our decentralization is continuing to screw us more and more over time

I lived in switzerland where our cantons are highly Autonomous. The cantons even on their own recruit soldiers for the Confederal Armed Forces, beside tax, education system, police and so on. Decentralization can work when a nation or the nations in a state have a goal in common, where decentralized entities can work effecitvely without drowing in political intrigue. Switzerland is inhabited by german, italian and french speaking people, but they are all swiss and want a strong switzerland, which makes the cantons act together instead against each other. Decentralization is a privilege, not standart. But some states will still need a cenrtalized state, like Turkey where i'm living in since 3 years. Here, fats response is necessary due external threats, and the turkish people are united in many apsects which gives legitimacy to a centralized state. Cool article you write, polysee!

Brilliant video, no one else on youtube discussing these ideas. Thank you for promoting this healthy way if thinking

I have spent a lot of my life in Cork and from my experience there is little to no want for Cork independence

Just discovering this channel now and it seems to be a gem. This is excellent analysis. - N

It's more of a running gag than an actual belief people have

I moved from Ireland some time ago to a European country with a more decentralised form of government and the difference to our quality of life is unimaginable. Here councils operate schools, childcare, primary healthcare, local planning, employment services amongst many other things. The state only decides levels of service, such as curriculum or health outcomes and national service policies such as inter regional transportation. The ‘downside’ is; local government taxes. But this is balanced against a low level of national income taxes for most workers meaning my effective rate is lower than it would be in Ireland. Another advantage of localism is that areas get to compete for taxpayers based on quality of life issues and tax rates. For example you may move to a larger city with shorter commuting times and moderate tax rates but you’ll pay high housing costs. To make rural areas competitive some will actually give you a free site for a house in the hope that you’ll stay there and pay taxes. In short you choose based on your priorities. In Ireland, more people don’t necessarily equal more revenue for local authorities so what long term motivation would a local authority have to build more housing? With localism and decentralised taxation you can give councils a really good reason to innovate. Nice video.

Having started a masters in law recently, it is great to see the dense topics constantly popping up in your accessable videos! It's super useful for myself and the public to have a better grasp on how government could be improved. More Cork content would be greatly welcomed too. Great work lads

Brilliant video mate. Production quality, voiceover and ideas well done

Amazing content as always mate, so glad to see this kind of subject specific to Ireland. Please keep it up, great stuff! Cork independent is a bit much not gonna lie, but all for localising minor matters. National government should be outsourcing issues that are not worth their valuable time.

Briliant episode, very informative!

That was a damn good video my dude, bring on Limerick independence while we're at it!!

Centralised government has led to economic development being concentrated in the capital.

Ireland should have a Federal system along the lines of Canada, but with the 4 provinces and Dublin being the states, as opposed to the counties. Many counties are larger and more sparsely populated than swiss cantons. Counties should be more autonomous with regards to their existing functions. Edit: also, town councils and local Mayors should be restored to give local communities back their autonomy.

I have been living in Ireland for more than a year now and I most say beyond every reasonable doubt this is the Best RU-vid that explains and offers solutions to the Issues in Ireland! Thanks a billion, Keeping up the Great Work ❤❤❤

Cork people are now officially moving from trashing dublin to officially asserting their independence now and I love it 😎

As an Irish who lived in Denmark for years, it’s always interesting to see these countries compared !

Born and Bred Jackeen here. I'm sick of the whole Dublin focus too. I want to live in a country with alternatives. Workable alternatives, and workable for the many. Cork is in that league, maybe Limerick too. But we need to bring them closer to Dublin's level. And level up places like Galway or Athlone. So that we can all choose our lifestyles more freely on this small island. And not have so many people being pre-destined by necessity to end up in Dublin. Squeezing into way overpriced Dublin suburbs for the crime of not wanting to face a huge commute, because once again the jobs are in Dublin, and the city center at that. Its also plain old boring too, having so much focused only in Dublin, and annoying for locals like myself. Dublin or nothing is often a case, and its constrictive. And it makes for a poor housing market too. So build it somewhere else for a change.

As a civil engineering student in ATU Sligo, this channel is a blessing to me.

CLICKED FOR CORK MUP CORK If you are from Ireland you know why this video concept is fucking HILARIOUS

This is a great video. Really looking forward to more.

Very interesting video. Love to see high quality Irish content, especially about Cork!

I happen to be a local election candidate in county Meath. I’d say around 80% of the issues my county faces are a direct result of over-centralisation. There is a number of examples I could cite, but I think one of the biggest issues comes from a genuine lack of representation… the largest town in my LEA (Kells) at one point had 7 county councillors & 9 town councillors, today the town has 2 councillors who are resident in the town and claim to represent the town - both of whom are only part-time representatives with no staff & limited resources. It is very unfortunate that political decentralisation isn’t higher on the agenda for this government or the opposition. Particularly when something such as the re-introduction of town councils seems to have the support of most in politics!

A measurement of centralisation independent of country size would be interesting. Germany is very decentralized but e.g. the most populous region in Germany, northrhine-westfalia has more than three times as much people than Ireland. It makes sense to be more centralised if you are smaller.

Idk, I don't trust county councillors

I have come to think that this would be a good idea for the reasons that you have stated. Putting local services in local hands should produce better results with the caveat that competent people are elected / employed to do those roles.

Happy to welcome Cork back into the fold with high autonomy 🇬🇧

The swiss canton style governance is indeed not ideal for Ireland. I reckon a Spanish autonomies style division would have gone great in Ireland 80 years ago, but implementing it at this point might be hard. Perhaps considering more of a French style of governance where the regions derive power from the central government but the town councils derive power from the people, might be ideal.

no joke the first town he showed is my hometown

Thanks for another top notch video! Would love to see an easy way to contact local TDs about putting forward such proposals, integrating your ideas into an actual push for change. The same way for how charity fundraising sites sometimes have a link that has a pre-written message to send to a local TD, with an accompanying tool to help find the TD who currently represents the viewer.

That with the bus at 10:05 is hilarious

from dublin and youve convinced me. nice video :)

I remember doing my Leaving Cert Politics class 4 years ago and the whole concept of localism was completely (and blindly) dismissed as corrupt and anti-democratic, at the time I disagreed in principle but (as a 16 year old just looking for cao points) didn't didn't care enough to actually look into things. This video perfectly demonstrates the issues that I, and anyone looking for the best possible Ireland, would readily jump on. May God help the west brits in Leinster House to fix these issues.

You have chosen good themes (governance and Ireland) in your channel. Keep up the good work! Wishing you a big growth in subscriber number.

Love this content- keep going!

I have always been staunchly against devolution but this video convinced me.

Get this video more views. A very interesting idea

Fiscal autonomy is essential for a 2nd City to thrive. Cork not only has to go cap in hand to Dublin for funding but also has a few big hitter Corkonian politicians who have done very little for the City. Martin, Coveney and McGrath. What have they done for Cork? Very little.

We have no regional spending for a reason. Look at dublin city council and the wonderful idea to build a rafting centre in the ifsc...

ALL HAIL SWITZERLAND, FROM DENMARK!!!!

Very well put together as always. Totally agree with the points for localism. I nver really understood our push for nationalism and centralisation to the government. Housing and planning totally make sense to be at the level at which they will be used.

Brilliant video, I recently discovered this channel and love the way you're looking at some of the bigger issues in Ireland. I agree with the central thesis of the video, although as many folks have pointed out in the comments, there are big cultural differences between Ireland and other federal countries and any decentralisation initiative would need necessarily require fiscal decentralisation, which I see as the bigger political obstacle. on that note, the level of the debate in the comments is also refreshingly informed and respectful, may it long continue!

Nah bro... letrim should be independent

I’m reminded of the Strong Towns movement in America. Interesting video and even more interesting to see how Europeans are talking about some of the ideas we’re talking about here in the states. Good job.

Great content, keep it up!

I think following a united Ireland we may see less centralism. If Stormont is maintained as a transitory device, funded and aligned with Dublin. Perhaps the impacts of this experiment will lead to more power to the provinces as a whole.

Pleasantly surprised at the lack of click bait here

Ironically, as an American I watched this video and became jealous of Ireland's strong central government.

Love the thumbnail so much

Cork city tech startup and geosocial movement checking in to get behind the Republic of Cork which is already engrained in our local culture. You can massively help democratise decision-making and public empowerment by supporting the development of open source digital public goods. Unsurprisingly Irelands centralised systems do not favour the decentralisation of tools and systems that democratise the production of knowledge and hold governments+polluters accountable.

Great video

👏very well done!. These are the hypothetical questions I love seeing explored! ..would love to see a video on what would logistically have to happen if Cork ever did become the Capital of Ireland.

Well… Cork is big enough to be an EU state. More people than Malta. We have a national anthem, a naval base, a huge harbour, industry, tourism, scenery, ferries, an airport, a possible Parliament building down on the river, excellent food and water resources and we’re obviously closer to the continent, physically and spiritually, than Dublin. Cork city feels a lot more continental than Dublin does. If we did decide to go independent, best not try to stop us: Ireland’s last fight for independence was led by a Corkman. We even have a magical roundabout. Maybe we should be localised first and the rest of the country can watch to see how it’s done?

Good idea. Then we could impose sanctions on Cork

If Ireland was more localised the parish pump nudge-nudge, wink-wink carry that goes on in Irish politics would be rampant. No thanks.

It's interesting that you refer to the GAA as an example of bottom up organization because I'd point to them as a prime example of the shortcomings of this parochial approach - look at the stadiums in Munster (Semple, Pairc Ui Chaoimh, Semple, Fitzgerald, Gaelic Grounds, Walsh Park, Cusack Park)... too many substandard facilities used a handful of times a year because everyone needs their share and there is no central planning.

Cork probably should be independent imo. As someone from England, I support the idea that central government should be shut down, dismantled and should only hold the powers of national defence, and law & justice (i.e. running prisons, courts, deciding what should be illegal, etc) and foreign affairs with anything else being waste.

Good argument, but I don't personally agree. Ireland is already small enough, considering that we are surrounded by major powers (Britain, USA, France, Spain, etc.), even though by sea. Localisation wouldn't be in Ireland's interest, if it wishes to be on the world stage. Plus, I don't think its true that the Irish people identify with their province more than their nation. That degree of association is present in every country, and is nowhere comparable to Catalans of Spain or Bavarians of Germany. That phenomenon that you've mentioned quickly disappears, once the rugby match is over.

Keep up the great work Polysee! Love to watch your videos. Thank you for explaining overly complicated government practices. You seem to be one of the only resources out there that actually reveals problems and offers solutions in a pragmatic and thoughtful way, but good lord, how badly designed our system of government is..

Cork is clearly an outpost of Wales, if you listen to their accent.

class video

A very interesting video. I think autonomy would be a more appropriate word than independence, as they would still be deferring national issues to the state, but that would make a less interesting title. I think the Irish state has always had a deep mistrust of local councils, as they are left over instruments of British rule, and efforts to undermine local government go all the way back to De Valera. My own town, Drogheda, has really been at a disadvantage since the urban councils were dissolved. I firmly believe that we need to give back as much power as practical to local authorities, and figure out a proper model for funding them, as well as bring back urban councils. I also think it's essential that we take away the ability for ministers to meddle in local affairs, otherwise they can undermine a local government's carefully worked out plans on a whim.

This is what the RTE should be making.

I am baffled by the choice of a line graph suggesting continuous data to represent a list of countries in the first 30 seconds. Damn.

As someone from Cork, I feel like it would be like Quebec getting independence, we'd just be for the sake of having a border, we wouldn't survive alone.

As a non-EU national living in Ireland, I already deal with so much unnecessary and slowly-improving bureaucracy. Thus adding an additional layer of likely more fluid rules coming from a local government fills me with dread.

Cork needs an event Centre which is 10 years over due , this for me would be a game changer for the city . Cork makes up a third of the countries industrial output it punches a way above its weight for what it gets back in return from central government .

Cork like Catalonia would be so out of the EU that it would instantly collapse the economy for both 🤣 Yep. Idiotic idea. 😂

pie charts and graphs aside how does this work? Take schull they have a rubbish dump there. They collect 15 ton of rubbish a week. That's one small skip. That covers Bantry crookhaven Durrus and Goleen, that's about three thousand people.Centralism works when you have a small population but for how long?

Ive always been of the belife that Federalism is the solution to a united Ireland, and it would aee Munster capitaled by Cork have mich more autonomy

We know why local government was frowned upon. There is no need for that distrust now though. Things are going along nicely.

Fantastic video - I've just subscribed on Patreon, but I suspect you'll need to promote that more explicitly if it's planned to be a significant income stream to support the channel. An interesting counter-point is the situation in the UK right now, where local authorities are beginning to go bankrupt and the central gov is having to step in more heavily to support budget deficits - caused at least in part by the point around lack of scrutiny as LGs will desperately try to keep any financial issues under wraps until it's too late. However, I'm tentatively in favour of more localism in Ireland - there's a possibility it could also somewhat stem the brain drain from the rest of Ireland to Dublin, if there's a way to still make meaningful impact without being based in the capital.

We already had the republic of munster ran by cork during the civil war And the peoples republic of limrick Both complete failures. As a fellow corconian we will accept the being the capital instead of independence.

As a Canadian who moved to the USA many years ago, I’ve come to seriously appreciate the powers of local government. At the county level there are initiatives and referenda. The counties also administer roads, power and water. There are county courts, sheriffs, and so on. Frankly, I love it. None of this exists in Canada. This may be a good fit for Ireland. I also wonder if it would be attractive to unionists in the north. They might like joining a united Ireland if they could control their counties, say Antrim and Down. In my perfect world, localism solves all problems. You could have a “right to bear arms” county for those who love guns. If you don’t like guns, you move to another county. You could have a “no abortion” county. If you really must have abortion, then you move to a county that allows it. And on and on. But you have to be mature enough as a nation to realize all people are not alike, and to allow people of different persuasion to live as they wish. Then again, this is the American way; it’s not for everybody. I’ll just say after living in the USA for many years, I couldn’t go back to Canada and give up these freedoms

I read the title wrong and I thought "Why does anyone want pork to be independent? What does that even mean? Will pigs be let free to roam the streets and forests?"

I actually think corporation tax being semi-localised would be a good idea. A higher corporation tax in Dublin relative to other areas could encourage investment elsewhere in Ireland rather than defaulting to Dublin.

awesome

Democratic Confederalism would be unfathomably cool in an Irish context. There's a good video on Confederalism on the Solidarity Economy Association channel

Well it is called the rebel county. Good video

A good exploration of the benefits of localism, but you might have looked at the situation in the UK (especially given the reference to the North near the end). Policy pluralism - which is presented (rightly, I think) as a benefit here - was supposed to be a benefit of devolution in the UK. That was until you had a situation with one party in Westminster and opposing parties in Holyrood and Cardiff Bay. Because the lion's share of public money comes from Westminster, the UK government can always use finances as sticks to beat the devolved administrations with. So, to have really effective localism, you would need extremely clear safeguards and proportionate powers to raise money (taxes and loans). This means amending the Constitution (which is not a bad idea, imho).

Great idea...as a Dub I fully support it!! As long as you take back Mehole Martin as your new leader 😅😅

Good video but on specifics Cork first needs to get its act together environmentally. It has some of the worst infrastructure for dealing with floods, sure it gets a lot of rain and suffers the brunt of much of the storms that hit, and will continue to hit, Ireland but unlike say Waterford or even small towns like Lucan that suffered flooding a good few years back, absolutely nothing has been done about it. The West of Ireland suffers from these problems but there is so much bally-hoo about the wonderful modernity of Cork that this must be pointed out to avoid disaster by lack of future-proofing. Cork is positioned to avoid much of the infrastructure and property related traps Dublin has painted itself into but if it cannot avoid the obvious, documented mistakes of Dublin or Waterford say, then sorry to say its going to struggle to find novel solutions to its unique problems. Cork has just one obvious, low-hanging fruit benefit - lots of land. Its the biggest County in Ireland. I say do with that what you will. Ireland's political class will only ever invest in the low-hanging fruit. It is risk-averse as a country, this goes for research funding as well as infrastructure. So yeah local funds distributed throughout much of Ireland is going to be seen as always robbing Peter to pay Paul, with Leinster generally and Dublin specifically being the economic engine of Ireland with the rest of the country being simply fuel in the eyes of much of the establishment.

You make a very good point

A great idea!👌🏻 But if Cork goes independent, you’ve to take back MeHole Martin and we never have to hear that winey high pitched accent anymore!

Pack of jokers 😂😂😂 Erin go Bragh

Great video!! We need local inovation🤘

this is a reactionary video. The suspicion of centralization stated here is ultimately an affirmation of private interests and a sort of libertarianism. And arguing for localism so as to promote some idea of "experimentation"? The State is not a start up company. The state protects people, not private interests.

I support localism but still Ireland first, counties second. 🇮🇪

There’s a difference between stateless nations and regions.

Great video, new subscriber here!

Maith thú! 👍👍👍

I think a very effective form of political organisation would be one of forming Local Worker Councils amongst the counties. This would in fact allow each county to have their own worker councils to begin a process of worker democratic delegation. So lets say those Councils can vote amongst themselves through a political process I'd call 'democratic centralism', which implies that within these councils, everyday people would engage in mass political discussions amongst themselves to discuss means to enact policies, delegate representatives, the functions of workplaces, the management of budgets at a local level, etc... Then I would have each Province of Ireland to have their own Regional Councils, which takes it a step further and would represent multiple Counties at once, again the discussion would be the same about the overall function of Ireland, but at a Regional level. After that there should be a National Assembly which would push representatives starting from the Local level, being delegated towards the top to discuss more national concerns. This would definitely involve foreign policies and Ireland's relationship with other nations. Discussions would range from the function of Ireland's economy to the funding of social services such as education and healthcare, having the Irish people decide through this process the construction of Council Housing, resource management, labour management, etc... Though this Ireland would imply that the Government would be Worker owned and the political structure would be akin to a single Party State, it would make multiparty opposition redundant and would imply more of a multiparty collaboration, there would be no need to swap between party control, it would have the country be ran from the bottom up. This Ireland would imply the full nationalisation of many key industries and that those industries would be in the hands of this Irish Workers State. It would abolish landlordism, though it would also kick the many companies out of the country that use Ireland as a tax haven, since if Ireland nationalised these industries, the profits wouldn't go to the CEOs, it would go directly to Ireland... Just some thoughts. Though you said that "we need Politicians". Politicians as we know now, the current job role that is politician is useless, we don't need Politicians at all to run a country, the country is already ran by the working people, the current role of Politicians is to enact policies that interest whoever runs the government and the people who run the government isn't the everyday people of Ireland, it is the richest of those people who run it, the landlords and Irish owner class. They have more direct communication with these politicians, some of these politicians are Landlords or Owners themselves, so they will enact policies that'll protect their ability to have economic control of Ireland for as long as possible and for them to even grow that control, protecting their interests despite it going against the interests the majority of the Irish population. Under the structure that I described the first half of this comment, the Irish people would fit into the role of Politician, not as an occupation, but by necessity, for the interest of themselves and for the Irish Population. Edit: I typed this comment half way through the video, mainly when you said "We need Politicians", I had to give my 2 cents on it. But watching some more you literally imply a good portion on what I said. Real good video though.

Nice video, but can i ask, are you Irish

so... the 'Rebel County' is using a 'British Red Bus' to advocate for autonomy..... all kidding aside, this was an informative and useful exercise in contrasting the handling and application of governance. Well done!!

I am in favour of replacing the county councils with regional councils. Manchester has one council for 4 million so connaught munster leinster and dublin (and eventually ulster with Donegal cavan monaghan) are easily able to handle the regional needs for their areas.

As a Galway man I support Cork Independence, if Cork was independent Galway would be the biggest county in Ireland

This is certainly an interesting discussion and one that deserves a lot more discussion, as any of the existing systems have their advantages and disadvantages and we should always seek to improve upon existing ideas for example, a decentralised health system was a disaster during Covid in Switzerland, with each Kanton setting its own rules for masks, social distancing etc. Equally local planning boards have been shown in many countries to be very prone to corruption. And An Bord Pleanala as I understand is an Appeals Court and not where planning is initially granted, I don’t believe a decentralised appeals court would be either cheaper or change a culture of NIMBYism/corruption. Also the system of voting for local governments and on local spending which Swiss people hold dear and I very much appreciate, is considered incompatible with the EU and one of the main reasons that Swiss people reject EU membership. I believe all governments whether centralised or decentralised have to work more to be increasingly transparent , which should be easy and cheap in the age of the internet. Yet instead it seems to have become an excuse for more red tape, which I don’t quite understand. There is a lot more to unpack in this topic and I don’t believe its as simple as saying this or that department should be decentralised. If a government was run like a business, then each business process (irrespective of department) would be analysed individually to see whether costs or efficiency could be improved by centralisation or decentralisation. But as is, decentralising a top heavy health board would just as likely lead to several top heavy decentralised health boards. Governments and esp. the Irish government has always had a problem to attract talent. It has a long history of cronyism and culture of uninspiring civil service, and wonderfully expensive investigations that have never led to any real consequences for any politician or civil servant and until that changes, I don’t see how any changes to government structure could lead to any desired outcome.

The Dublin government gave Cork taxpayers money to Dublin airport. Dublin airport loaned our money to our airport in Cork. Everytime we use our airport, we have to pay fees to Dublin for loaning our money to our airport. Yes, I think Cork and the other 31 counties in our country would be better off going it alone. See if Dublin can stand, without being propped up by the rest of us.