John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Basically, they mean nothing at this point. This needs to be communicated to the local authorities. I spoke to senior management in Wicklow County Council just before Christmas and it really has not got a clue as to what is going on. It saw the report last year according to which Bray was to be designated as a municipal borough district. There was no communication after that. One local authority in Wexford, namely Wexford city, has been renamed Wexford municipal borough district, so what it appears to be is simply a name change. This comes at a cost because all the stationery and everything else will need to be changed. What the Minister of State is really saying is that there are no additional powers. Most of these towns would have been town councils prior to this, and the Minister of State knows only too well the powers that those town councils had. He needs to elaborate as to what exactly the plans are here because the local authorities have not got a clue what is going on.

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