Kilkenny is to have its city status recognised formally in legislation for the first time. The Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, confirmed to The Irish Times last night that he will amend the Local Government Bill to enshrine Kilkenny's right to its charter and to call itself a city.
The Minister also confirmed he is to amend the Bill so that Kilkenny, Sligo, Clonmel, Wexford and Drogheda retain their corporation borough status. Under the Local Government Bill, the five towns would have had their city borough status downgraded to town council status.
Mr Dempsey has agreed to the amendments after intensive lobbying from politicians in the towns and from the Fianna Fail backbench committee on local government and the environment.
Under the Bill, five urban centres, Dublin, Galway, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford, are designated as major growth centres and would have the right to elect mayors directly. That left Kilkenny's city status open to interpretation.
Kilkenny was granted a city charter by King James I in 1609, and there was huge concern that it would be stripped of its city title. Mr Dempsey met the mayors of the five towns yesterday and confirmed the amendments.
Last night the Mayor of Kilkenny, Mr Paul Cuddihy, welcomed the move. He said the people of Kilkenny would be delighted as a result of the decision. The city had looked on the plan to change the status of Kilkenny from a city borough to a town council as a serious downgrading.
"We have had a corporation for many hundreds of years. We want local government in urban areas to be strengthened. We don't want anything done to weaken it," Mr Cuddihy said. He was still concerned about aspects of the Local Government Bill such as the transfer of services relating to water and sewage to county councils.
He said he had received no commitments on those issues and would leave the matter to the floors of the Dail and Seanad.
The move was also welcomed by the Mayor of Clonmel, Mr Brian O'Donnell, who said the town had had borough status for hundreds of years and "we're delighted to be holding on to it". To remove it, he said, would have been seen as a snub to the town.
He expressed disappointment, however, at Mr Dempsey's refusal to drop his plan to do away with the title of alderman for candidates securing the most votes in local elections. The Mayor of Sligo, Alderman Sean MacManus of Sinn Fein, said he welcomed the fact that the Minister had agreed to an amendment ensuring that Sligo Borough Council would not be reduced to a town council.
He said, however, that the battle was not completely won yet because Sligo Corporation's powers in relation to the provision of sanitary services would be given to the county council.