Political parties have turned backs on our electoral area
Last Wednesday was the deadline for submission for the draft local area plans for west Cork. Excellent work was undertaken by the Planning Policy Department of Cork County Council in preparing Strategic Environmental Assessments for each Local Area Plan as part of this initative.
The Planning and Development Acts require that local area plans must be consistent with the County Development Plan. The County Development Plan 2009 sets out population and household targets for the period up to the year 2020 for the main Strategic Planning Areas of the county. The forecasts for population growth as set out in the CASP Review (2006-2020), indicate Bandon will continue as the largest settlement in the electoral area with 7,379 persons in 2020, a 26% increase from 2006. Growth in Kinsale will be more moderate, with an estimated population target of 4,519 or about a 10% increase in the 2006 population up to the year 2020.
The remaining growth for all the villages and rural areas, including Innishannon, is calculated to amount to 1,308 persons, bringing the overall population target to 18,595. The 2020 target for the electoral area as a whole is 30,493 persons.
This information should be examined by political parties when deciding on strategies for the forthcoming election, in particular because no party has selected any candidate from this area to stand. This will result in the largest settlement in west Cork not having any political representation in the forthcoming Dáil. The least any of the political parties could offer the people of this area is a candidate representing this community in the forthcoming election.
It is rather incredible that all the main political parties, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour have, in essence, turned their backs on the Bandon electoral area and the potential to garner votes from this very significant population.
Declan Waugh
Bandon
Co Cork
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