A TD has claimed it may be illegal for a town council in Cork to use taxpayers’ money to mount a legal challenge against Environment Minister Phil Hogan’s plans to abolish the country’s 80 town councils.

A SENIOR policing official has warned that Justice Minister Michael McDowell’s planned Joint Policing Committees will be ineffective unless they are give proper powers and a defined role.

THE return of domestic rates, or the introduction of local taxation, are not being ruled out in a major independent review of local government funding.