Further proposal to merge Kilkenny, Carlow councils
A SUGGESTION to merge Kilkenny and Carlow County Councils has been proposed in a new report on local government reform.
It was among 10 council mergers suggested in the 209-page ‘Report of the Local Government Efficiency Review Group’ published last week. The change would save the Government millions of euro by reducing the total number of county managers and directors of services in all local authorities, the report suggests.
This follows similar discussions that arose from last year’s ‘An Bord Snip Nua’/ Colm McCarthy report by the Commission on Taxation.
“As a rough guide, a minimum population target per structure of 100,000 is recommended,” the new report says. Kilkenny and Carlow together have a population of 137,907, for example, while Sligo and Leitrim have 89,844 combined, Waterford City and County have 107,961 combined, North Tipp and South Tipp have 149,244 combined, and Laois and Offaly have a total of 137,927 residents.
“There is a historical precedent for one manager being responsible for two counties, as several managers were responsible for more than one county in the past,” the report notes.
Borough Council
The report suggests transferring borough councils planning, roads and housing functions to county councils, but it does not propose to get rid of borough councils. Instead, it says: “The Group was ... in no doubt as to the positive contribution town councils have made towards supporting community development and economic activity within their towns. Town councils have a proud record representing the interests of their town, and of leveraging local voluntary effort in the improvement of their areas, and have facilitated local people in taking decisions about additional services for their areas such as street cleaning. This manifests itself in improved outcomes for local people and businesses. For example, in the Irish Business Against Litter 2009 final results, based on a survey in 60 towns and cities, 30 out of the 38 towns which were deemed to be in the category ‘clean to European norms’ had town councils.”
“While a small number of submissions to the Group favoured retaining the status quo in terms of town councils, a number suggested either the transfer of specific functions to the county council, or the full-scale restructuring of town councils and their consolidation into a single level of local government at county level,” the report continues. “These are matters that the Group considers are appropriate to the White Paper on Local Government due to be published shortly.”
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Monday 21 May 2012
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