"You will not lose your councillors", Mary Hilda Cavanagh tells people of North-West Kilkenny

Cllr Mary Hilda Cavanagh (Fine Gael) has moved to assure people in 13 electoral divisions (EDs) across North-West Kilkenny that they will not be losing their local councillors.

Her comments come after news was broken this morning that the Electoral Commission has recommended to transfer these 13 EDs, with a population of 6,431, to a newly-formed Tipperary North constituency.

Cllr Cavanagh told Kilkenny Live that she has already received correspondence from concerned constituents who fear that this means that they will also be losing their local councillors.

"I'd like to reassure people that there are no changes recommended on a local election level and that the changes proposed relate solely to future elections to Dáil Éireann," she said.

"People are still in a state of shock after hearing the news and are struggling to process it," she added.

"After the next General Election, they're likely going to be represented by three new TDs, who they might not be familiar with.

"It's nothing personal to Tipperary but we were given no heads-up as to what is a major change on the political front."

Cllr Cavanagh acknowledged that it is highly unlikely that a candidate from Kilkenny will be elected to the new Tipperary North constituency in the next General Election.

"It's more important than ever that the local people caught up in this boundary alteration know that their local councillors will still be there to represent them and make their interests known to the TDs that will go on to represent them," she concluded.