‘Farce’: Cork district left without seat on safety partnership as law limits representation

A legislative cap on district representation leaves one Cork area without a councillor on the new Community Safety Partnerships

Mayor of County Cork, Independent councillor Mary Linehan-Foley, had to draw seven names from a hat to select those who will sit on the new county body. Picture: Larry Cummins

A municipal district in Co Cork will be the only one in the country without any councillors representing it on the soon-to-be-formed Community Safety Partnerships.

This is due to an anomaly the department of justice has refused to address, saying any change would require altering the legislation establishing the partnerships, which will also include members of gardaí, the HSE and Tusla.

The legislation allows for a maximum of seven municipal districts per county. However, because of its size, Cork is the only county in Ireland with eight.

Mayor of County Cork, Independent councillor Mary Linehan-Foley, had to draw seven names from a hat to select those who will sit on the new county body, expected to hold its first meeting early in the new year.

As a result, the Bandon–Kinsale Municipal District lost out.

A blame game then erupted between political parties. Fianna Fáil councillor Joe Carroll said his Fine Gael colleagues, who recently visited the Dáil, should have raised the issue with their TDs and Tánaiste Simon Harris.

Ms Linehan-Foley told Mr Carroll “that was a low blow” and pointed out that Fianna Fáil councillors should have contacted Taoiseach Micheál Martin, “seeing as he’s a Corkman.”

Labour councillor Cathal Rasmussen proposed a motion, which was approved, that the council write to Mr Martin and minister for justice Jim O’Callaghan asking that the legislation be changed immediately to allow representation from all eight municipal districts.

“We need to get this sorted out. It’s not fair having one municipal not represented,” he said.

Senior council officials had previously engaged with the department of justice on the matter but made no progress.

Fianna Fáil leader on the council Gearoid Murphy said the department’s refusal to recognise the size of the county “added insult to injury.”

He said the situation “almost reaches a level of farce” as the county is so large it is split into three divisions, each larger than some counties.

Fine Gael councillor Anthony Barry claimed it's another example of Cork “being screwed over.”

Fine Gael councillor John Michael Foley, the nominee for the Bandon–Kinsale district, said it's a large area to lose out on representation.

“This (new forum) is about being local and of the community. It should do what it says on the tin and it doesn’t,” added Independent councillor Alan Coleman.

Council chief executive Moira Murrell said it was important the views of councillors be made known to the Taoiseach and minister for justice and that the cap on representation “doesn’t reflect the scale of the county.”