Gormley spares town councils from the axe

TOWN councils earmarked for the axe were last night given a reprieve by Environment Minister John Gormley.

The Green leader ruled out scrapping the State’s 80 town and city authorities, despite the drastic overhaul being a recommendation of the McCarthy report tasked with finding €5.3 billion worth of spending cuts.

Under the McCarthy plans for a major shake-up of local government, 12 authorities would have been abolished, leaving Cork city and county councils among those merged.