Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak tonight.

We might get Deputy Healy-Rae a Cork passport. I have one - they were given out a number of years ago. It goes to show how big is Cork county.

I acknowledge that Cork city has long outgrown its 1965 boundary. I also acknowledge, however, that a merger of both the city and county councils would not be in the best interests of the city, the county and the peripheral areas. It is a no-brainer. It will not be possible.

It seems many issues have got lost in the media over the past number of months. One of these issues was the possibility of changes to the city boundary. Deputy O'Keeffe mentioned Cobh, and Carrigtwohill was also mentioned. The boundary has never been drawn because there has been no dialogue on it.

As Deputy Ó Laoghaire stated, the main issue is that it has to be brought forward on the basis of a two local authority model. In addition, Cork City Council and Cork County Council will have to sit down together, have a meaningful discussion on this and ensure that both councils are financially sustainable. They must also ensure that this is done, as the Deputy stated, on a permanent basis. We do not need compensation for ten years. It is fantasy. It must go on all the time.

Another issue is that more power must be given to district councils. It is shameful that the town councils were abolished because it killed local democracy. Now we are looking at a model of oligarchy - government by a few - and that is not good.

It is time that both the city and county councils sat down together and did the right thing for the whole county. It is not about pitting the city council against the county council, as some of the media reports suggest, rather that it is just not working. We have to ensure that the whole county, as the individual county of Cork, is the economic driver where both councils work in tandem. This means Cork city, east Cork, west Cork and north Cork pulling together and promoting the one Cork brand.

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