Gormley seeks views on council reform

ENVIRONMENT Minister John Gormley will be in Cork today to hear citizens’ views on how the city and county councils should be reformed.

Mr Gormley will attend a local government reform forum at the Oriel House Hotel in Ballincollig at midday.

Earlier this year, the minister launched a green paper (or discussion paper) on local government, which sets out a range of options for changing the way local authorities are run. The green paper caught the headlines because it proposes a directly-elected mayor for Dublin, who would have a range of powers across areas such as planning, housing, waste, water provision and waste water disposal. The mayor would also act as chair of the Dublin Transport Authority.