it and Labour formed the largest coalition government in the state's history, Hogan was appointed by the Taoiseach as Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government. Local government reform Hogan was responsible for several pieces of legislation to reform local government and introduce gender quotas so as to increase the representation of women in Irish political life. Hogan introduced the Local Governments Bill, which aimed to streamline local governance, abolishing 80 town councils with the overall number of councils operating in Ireland going from 114 to 31. The reforms were enacted as the Local Government Reform Act 2014 and were planned to come into effect in 2014, to coincide with the next scheduled local elections. Gender quotas In addition to local government reform, Hogan also introduced reform within the political party framework. As part of a series of reforms, he introduced measures to support female participation in politics. The Electoral (Amendment) (Political Funding) Bill 2011 would see parties lose half of their central exchequer funding unless the minority sex among their candidates accounts for 30 per cent of the entire national ticket at the next general election. The reform was brought in successfully alongside additional amendments to party political funding mechanisms. In advance of the 2016 General Election, Hogan noted that "this legislation has had the unprecedented effect of all major political parties selecting a minimum of 30% women candidates. It is my firm belief that this will benefit Irish political life, and indeed Irish society as a whole. Yes, there will naturally be teething problems, but this necessary acceleration of equality will benefit us all in the coming years". Taxes on property and water charges As Minister, Hogan had responsibility for implementing a series of reforms as part of Ireland's agreement with the European Troika. In July 2011, he outlined plans for a €100 annual “household charge” that would become operable from January 2012 for two years, ahead of the introduction in 2014 of a full property tax based on site valuations. 250,000 households, some 14%, would be exempt from paying the charge. Hogan accepted that the tax would cause hardship to some families but presented it as the minimum possible charge he could have applied, saying it would cost “a modest €2 per week”. This tax was the precursor to the Local property tax later introduced by Michael Noonan. Hogan also confirmed that a new State utility