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Galway city councillors have raised concerns whether enough is being done to tackle offences committed by cyclists in the city.

The first council meeting of 2018 proved to be a marathon nine-hour affair and again we only managed to get halfway through a large, divisive and time consuming agenda.

Just over a year from the biggest reorganisation of local government in the State in a lifetime, with the abolishment of town councils by the current Government and the setting up of new municipal authorities, the Taoiseach said this week that he stands by the decision.

A debate on commercial rates at this week’s meeting of Galway County Council led one exasperated councillor to remark that there would not be a rural pub left in Galway in a few years time if the system was not changed. The method of collecting rates was labelled as ‘outdated and antiquated’ where the amounts paid were in no way related to business income.

The final budget meeting of Castlebar Town Council saw the elected members vote to drop the commercial rates in the town by two per cent for the year ahead. The members voted to cut the rateable valuation from 70.23 to 68.76 on foot of a proposal from Sinn Féin councillor Therese Ruane.

According to DTZ Sherry FitzGerald many of its clients cite rates as the third highest overhead, behind rent and staff costs. With the national revaluation currently under way and rateable values set to increase across all business sectors, DTZ Sherry FitzGerald is encouraging occupiers and landlords of vacant commercial premises in Galway city to question whether they could be paying less.

The elected members of Ballina Town Council adjourned their annual budget meeting this week. The members agreed to meet again at 6pm before their annual monthly meeting which is due to take place next Wednesday, January 23.

Home owners across Galway city and county will receive letters in March telling them how much their home is worth and how much should be paid under the property tax.

So Galway is to get 12 new councillors - a new dirty dozen - when the proposals in the Department of the Environment’s new plan, Putting People First, billed as the most significant local authority reform in Ireland since the Victorian era, are passed.