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| Cork CITY Hall |
Cork Workers’
Party Councillor Ted Tynan has said that the proposed merger of Cork City and
County Councils would be a disaster for the city and would not be positive for
the county either.
Cllr. Tynan
said that proposed merger made no sense from either a social, urban development,
or good governance perspective. He said
the proposal amounted to nothing less than the extinguishment of Cork’s 1,000
year old existence as a city.
The Workers
Party councillor said that the government had predetermined the agenda and that
the statutory committee which had made the proposal was acting to that agenda. “The fact that two of the five members
dissented from the agenda shows how preposterous this proposal is. It is purely based on saving money, not on
common sense or the efficient delivery of local government services. The
proposal will merely make local administration more remote and inaccessible to
citizens”, said Cllr. Tynan.
“If merging
two already large councils like Cork City and County Councils made any sense then the inevitable outcome of
this policy would be to end up with about six councils in the entire country –
these would be six of the most unwieldy and unworkable councils ever created”, he
said
Cllr. Tynan
said that the proposal was not a merger but a takeover of Cork City by the
larger County Council. It would result
in a dilution of democratic accountability and unworkable local electoral
areas. “In short this plan would be a
disaster for the city and a disaster for the county.”
The Workers
Party councillor has welcomed the comments of Lord Mayor Cllr. Chris O’Leary
but has said that the opposition to the proposed merger must be widened out to
the general public and all stakeholders in society. “This is not just the merger of two councils,
it is the abolition of our city, a city with a thousand year long tradition. If
there was ever a reason for the city to earn the name Rebel Cork it is
now. The people of Cork City should
stand united and say to Alan Kelly, the government and the three majority
authors of this report HANDS OFF OUR CITY”
