The An Bord Snip Nua Report published last week has cast a doubt over the progression of the boundary extension of Kilkenny borough, according to the county manager Joe Crockett.
Mr Crockett was speaking at a meeting of Kilkenny County Council this week when he advised the members that, although a thorough discussion had taken place regarding the expedition of the boundary extension, this was now possibly not appropriate.
“There is now a question of whether or not we can proceed with the boundary extension. The process would be that the Borough Council makes an application and this is sent to the Department of the Environment, but now the Snip report is a new development and, given that it proposes the abolition of the of town councils, there is a question of change. I propose that any change in the boundary extension should be delayed until there is a view from Government as to whether town councils are staying or going,” he said.
Mayor Malcolm Noonan argued that there is always a rationale for the extension of the Kilkenny city borough boundary. However, he agreed that the Snip report had thrown things into disarray and the council needed clarity on the issue prior to proceeding.
It was recently argued by members of the Borough Council that the extension of the borough boundary was integral to inward investment for Kilkenny city and also it would afford citizens who live in the in ‘city area’ an opportunity to vote for public representatives.
Cllr Tomas Breathnach suggested that there be a special meeting of the members devoted to a discussion on the Bord Snip report.
The members were all adamant that the idea of merging local authority areas with any other county would not be acceptable to them.
Councillor Paul Cuddihy pointed out that people are proud of where they are from and that the merging of councils would not be appropriate.
“If only the Government was as good at running their own departments as we were at running ours, they wouldn’t be in this mess,” he said.
“Officials in government would also like to take over our assists and they have been looking for the abolition of urban and local government for the last 10 years. It is similar to abolishing local counties as occurred to the English county of Rutland,” he pointed out.
“We are elected to represent the people of Kilkenny and people are proud of where they are from.”
Cllr Catherine Connery added that the local authorities need to be prepared and pro-active in advance of this major proposal which, she added, needed to be discussed.
