Independents will hold sway in Cork’s County Hall despite Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael continuing to underline their dominance as the main parties in the local authority.

A single six-seater in 2014, the Kanturk-Mallow municipal district will be two separate electoral areas this time around.

Cork County Council engineers have urged Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) to provide improved on-road and off-road warning signs at a notoriously dangerous crossroads, in advance of major works to make it safer.

Cork County Council looks set to establish a special Rural Affairs Committee amid rising fears that many communities in North and West Cork are dying.

The Mayor of County Cork has offered to act as an honest broker to ensure the GAA holds the Liam Miller memorial fundraiser in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

They are said to have been snapped up within minutes of going on sale this morning.

County councillors are to ask the heads of the IDA and Enterprise Ireland to visit North-West Cork in a push to have more industries located there after a factory closure in Kanturk.

County councillors representing north-west Cork have reacted angrily to the redrawing of electoral areas by the Local Electoral Boundary Commission, with a senior council official saying the fall-out from it “will present challenges” to the local authority.

Plans to build 16 social houses in a Co Cork town have been mothballed, despite 150 people being on the waiting list there.

Cork city and county councils are still in dispute over Cork’s boundary alteration, which will be presented to Government today.

Cork County Council officials have been told they must change their housing policy or they will kill off communities in north-west Cork, an area known as Western Duhallow.

Litter louts in Co Cork could soon face a doubling of fines for dumping their rubbish as well as being named and shamed in the media.

An ‘eyesore’ section of a ghost estate is constantly hampering community efforts to better the area.

More than a year since demolition plans for up to 20 homes in another ghost estate were announced, the process has stalled.

Council officials have been praised for tackling what was once described as one of Cork’s worst ghost estates.

The stable door is being left open in terms of diplomacy for a North Cork town to get one of history’s most famous equines back home.

A blueprint given to the Government for future growth in Cork has forecasted the population of the city and county will increase from 542,000 to 846,000 by 2050 and has warned significant infrastructure investment will be needed to support this.

A British museum has said it will deal “sensitively” with calls to permanently repatriate the skeleton of Napoleon’s famous white horse to a Cork town.

Councillors have welcomed news that there is eventually light at the end of the tunnel for householders living in an unfinished estate in North Cork.

The first shots in the ‘Battle for Marengo’ have just been fired.

Parents awaiting the building of a new primary school in Kanturk can breathe a sigh of relief after it was confirmed a planning condition laid down by An Bord Pleanála can be met by Cork County Council.

The long-running saga of a very substandard water supply to a rural community in Co Cork seems finally to be coming to an end.

A 4,200-signature petition from people living in a village on the Cork-Kerry border is to be handed to Cork County Council and Irish Water in an effort to get a proper water supply into the area.

Council officials have been accused of ignoring villages in north-west Cork, which “are dying on their feet” because they are not being included in ambitious plans to tackle the housing crisis.

Cork County Council is to employ its own occupational therapists to clear a backlog of claims for housing adaptation grants because the HSE does not have the personnel to manage the job.

The imminent demolition of houses in a ghost estate in Lismire is a major breakthrough for Cork County Council and two other estates are in line for a big revamp.

Cork County Council is to write to the European Commission seeking an investigation into why the government continues to stall on releasing Leader funding for rural development projects.

Lives are being put at risk as mobile phone coverage has become so poor in recent months in several parts of Cork county.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland (formerly the National Roads Authority), has finally agreed to fund the redevelopment of one of the busiest roundabouts in Co Cork amid fears traffic using it would grind to a halt.

Jobs are being shed at organisations in Co Cork which aid rural development because they still haven’t received funding from central government and there’s fears that many worthy projects will also be put on hold as a result.

Recent flooding and subsequent damage could have been lessened in Co Cork if a government recruitment embargo had not resulted in a lack of ‘on-the-ground council staff’ being deployed during Storm Frank.

Residents in an estate in a north Cork town have spoken of their relief that six dangerous houses have finally been sealed off.

Cork County Council is taking legal action to recoup an insurance policy to fix what has been dubbed “the worst ghost estate in Ireland”.

A number of elderly and disabled people are living in totally inappropriate and degrading conditions because the Government is not providing enough money to adapt their homes.

Cork County Council is prepared to put €3.5m of its own money into Leader programmes to bridge a massive government cut to their funding.

The high number of non- permanent teachers — 35% — is destroying the pupil-teacher relationship, the ASTI convention heard.

A potential pact between Civil War enemies has surfaced in Cork County Council, with Sinn Féin and Fine Gael coalescing in a move which may seriously worry Fianna Fáil — the party which currently has control over the local authority.

A former school attended by Eamon de Valera is to be declassified as a protected structure following a campaign by local groups who want to see it redeveloped.

Fianna Fail are on the verge of achieving a remarkable three out of the six seats on offer in the Fermoy electoral area, although it will be a Labour Party man who looks odds on to top the poll when the first count is announced around 6pm.

Because of changes to a number of Co Cork’s electoral areas, there will be casualties among big-name councillors, and they’re more likely to be from Fine Gael, writes Sean O’Riordan