Community groups, tidy towns organisations and residents' associations are warning that they face a difficult future in the wake of soaring insurance costs.

An overwhelming majority of Cork’s 22 senators and TDs oppose the recommendations of the Mackinnon report to extend the city’s boundary.

A network representing 120 community and voluntary groups in Cork City has given full backing to a boundary extension — unlike its county counterpart.

An organisation representing 900 community and voluntary organisations in Co Cork is lobbying TDs and senators in an effort to scrap a major boundary extension to Cork City, which it says will be a “complete disaster” for rural communities if it goes ahead.