Councillor John Carey:

I come from Waterford County Council, which is being amalgamated with Waterford City Council. I regard this as a takeover by the city rather than an amalgamation because the county will come out worst at the end of the process. It is very unfair. Waterford is a proud city but we should be left alone to do our business. It is a retrograde step for the county. Lismore, on the border of Cork, might as well transfer to Cork because it is getting nothing. I do not know if it is because the county has weak management but we are getting very little. We had a beautiful office which was opened in 2002. The city councillors hold their meeting around something that resembles a card table. It is too late but I want to let the committee know that we are not happy about the amalgamation.