Coveney confident Cork councils ‘merger’ will be resolved

Minister for Local Government Simon Coveney said he is confident Cork City Council and Cork County Council will reach agreement on local government reform plans for the region.

Mr Coveney said all options remained on the table including merging the councils or an possible expansion of Cork City Council into suburbs currently under Cork County Council jurisdiction.

Last year, a review group set up by Mr Coveney's ministerial predecessor Alan Kelly, recommended the merger of the councils, with Cork City Council becoming an administrative division within the new larger structure.

The review group under the chairmanship of former Beamish & Crawford MD, Alf Smiddy resulted in a majority report by Mr Smiddy and fellow review members, senior counsel John Lucey and former Kerry County Manager, Tom Curran which recommended a merger.

However, fellow review members, UCC academics, historian Prof Dermot Keogh and political scientist, Dr Theresa Reidy dissented and issued a minority report recommendation calling for the two local authorities be retained with Cork City Council allowed to expand its jurisdiction into the county.

Speaking in Cork at the weekend, Mr Coveney rejected a suggestion the review, which cost just under €160,000, was a failure and said it provided a starting point for a debate about the type of local government which would best equip Cork to become a driver for economic development.

“It (the review) wasn’t a total failure by the way - what it has done is that it has got a real conversation going in the city and the county about what local governance should like across the region of cork which is an area with 500,000 people,” he said.

Mr Coveney said the government was serious about developing Cork as “a real alternative hub” for economic development to Dublin and he expected the population to grow significantly over the next ten years provided Cork puts proper local government structures in place.

“All options are still on the table but I am hoping that we will be able to find an agreement between the city and county on what local government structures (in Cork) should look like before the end of the year,” he said.

Speaking earlier this year to The Irish Times, Mr Coveney said the Smiddy Report and its majority recommendation for a merger had proven highly divisive but he said he still believed it was possible to achieve a consensus.

“What I am saying is that I’m not wedded to the Smiddy Report. I think it should be the basis for the conversation that we now need to have but it doesn’t necessarily determine what the outcome should be so I am going to try and build consensus between city and county on a new approach.”