Cork boundary extension to be debated by local authorities
City council chief executive Ann Doherty has invited every TD and senator in Cork city and county to attend a briefing on the issue in City Hall this Friday.
She said officials will outline the council’s interpretation of the Mackinnon report’s recommendations, and the rationale for the proposed boundary line will be explained.
Her invite comes less than a week after an Irish Examiner poll of Cork’s Oireachtas members showed that most were opposed to the Mackinnon boundary extension proposals.
Of the region’s 22 senators and TDs, 15 said they are against the proposals, with just four in favour.
Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney, who established the Mackinnon review group, declined to comment publicly on his position, and Seanad chairman Denis O’Donovan said he could not comment because it would interfere with the independence of his role as Cathaoirleach.
The Mackinnon expert review group was set up in a bid to break the impasse following the statutory 2015 Smiddy report which was split three to two in favour of a merger of the city and county councils.
The Smiddy report was subsequently shelved, and led to the establishment of the Mackinnon group, which earlier this year rejected the Smiddy findings.
Chaired by former chief planner for Scotland Jim Mackinnon, the review group instead recommended the retention of the two local authorities and the first city boundary extension since 1965.
The Mackinnon line would see the city extended to include areas such as Cork Airport, Douglas, Grange, Frankfield, Rochestown, Ballincollig, Blarney, Tower, Glanmire, Little Island, and Carrigtwohill, to boost the city’s population by 100,000 to 225,000.
Local Government Minister Eoghan Murphy accepted the proposals and set up an expert group to implement the extension, and to deal with the range of complex staffing and financial issues which would arise.
Cork County Council, which is opposed to the scale of the extension, then offered to cede land to the city — an offer rejected by the city because it was not in line with the Mackinnon proposals.
Last week, using the Mackinnon line as a guide, the city presented the detail of its proposed boundary to the implementation the group.
Hours beforehand, county councillors had voted unanimously to formally submit to City Hall the smaller land offer, previously rejected by the city, using the Section 29 process of the Local Government Act, which provides for public consultation and could delay the implementation of the report.
The county has also threatened to use every legal avenue open to it to block it.
Following the release to the public of the city’s proposed enlarged boundary, Lord Mayor Tony Fitzgerald said the city plans to host a series of public information sessions to explain to affected communities the rationale behind the boundary extension plans.
Both local authorities are due to resume public meetings today following the summer break.
The boundary extension issue is set to be the main topic of debate at both meetings today.
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