Cork Council Merger: ‘Amalgamation will downgrade the status of the city’

A decision on the boundary extension for Cork has been delayed for decades and now amalgamation has been chosen as an easy political solution.

But it is a sub-optimal decision for Cork City and County. An amalgamation of the two local authorities will downgrade the status of the country’s second largest city and undermine its capacity to function as the economic driver for the Munster region.

The most critical point which emerges from the CLGR public consultations and from international research is that cities drive regions. They provide the nucleus for economic activity and social development. This point is unequivocal.