Kevin O'Keeffe (Cork East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be brief. I will make one point regarding the motion. The first line should be amended. It states: "there is an attempt by agencies in the private sector and State bodies to encroach on the county boundaries". Academics should be included in that list. Members will be aware of where I am coming from with that comment with regard to some of the proposed changes in Cork city and county.

I served for a number of years in local government. I will be honest: I was happy with the original proposal from Phil Hogan for the abolishment of town councils. I thought it was a step in the right direction, because I believed that in rural Ireland and in towns there was a discrepancy with regard to the balance of power and spending. The Minister destroyed all the positive aspects of that when he diluted the representation in the areas. Now, we have little representation.

As I said earlier, I have a parochial issue that is totally at odds with the Mackinnon report. It is a total reversal of the original Smiddy report. I believe the process has gone from a democratic process to a political one. There is no logic or thought-out plan. We do not know whether a rugby ball, a cricket ball or a sponge was used to draw the line around Cork city.

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