Cork county councillors are seeking urgent clarification from the minister responsible for the expansion of Cork City’s boundary amid fears the body overseeing its implementation considers the Mackinnon report to be written in stone.

Cork County Council would immediately relinquish commercial rates and local property tax (LPT) worth in excess of €16m per year if its revised plan for the city council boundary extension is accepted by the Implementation Oversight Group.

More than 7,700 patients waited on trolleys for admission to hospital last month — the worst figures for the month of May since records began, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).