Taoiseach wants town councils re-established in three years

Micheál Martin cited Midleton floods and people in the town lamenting the lack of an urban council as a 'first point of response'

In a wide-ranging interview with the 'Irish Examiner', Taoiseach Micheál Martin also addressed plans for Cork's light rail system and the city's mooted taskforce. 

The Taoiseach wants to re-establish town councils across the country within three years, saying there would have been a more immediate community response to floods in Midleton if the local council had been in place.

Under austerity-era cuts, 80 town councils were abolished across the country, but Micheál Martin, in an interview with the Irish Examiner, said: “I certainly think we can re-establish a number of [town] councils or create new ones, because the population is changing.”