Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Cork County Council and Cork City Council worked exceptionally well in the 1970s and 1980s, for example, in terms of the land use and transportation study. Officials in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government confirmed that. It was an exemplar in terms of how to do planning. That was followed by CASP, the Cork Area Strategic Plan, another excellent model in terms of how to do planning and proving that there can be efficient, harmonised synergies between two local authorities serving side by side. Historically, the attraction of FDI into the city and county has worked, in terms of the pharmaceutical industry, for example, in the Lower Harbour, Ringaskiddy and across the county and with technology companies such as Apple and EMC. This is all mythology, the idea that a new unified structure will somehow create a Nirvana and give a better outcome. The proof of the pudding lies in the fact that very significant results have been achieved in key macro areas. The waste water treatment development plan, for example, for Little Island came out of synergies, as did the main water drainage scheme, with massive investment by both county and city. At the heart of this----

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