Martin Cullen (Waterford, Fianna Fail)

This was introduced in the Local Government Bill 2000 as a direct response to all the local authority associations who wanted it. It is included for a very good reason. Town councils are the smallest common denominator in the system. While they do not have many powers, equally they share the same electorate as the county council and there has been a long tradition of this connection. Many decisions made at the county council will affect the town council area. I thought about this in the context of the Bill but was persuaded by all political parties that the connectivity between the town and county council areas is very important. The arguments made on the 2000 Act still hold today.

The Senator seeks to connect a town and city council but there is no connection; the electorate is not the same. There is no overlapping of functions between them whereas the opposite pertains with regard to county and town councils. For instance, there is no connection between decisions made by Cork City Council and Skibbereen Town Council whereas clearly those made by Cork County Council have an effect on Skibbereen.

I have been persuaded by Members on both sides that there is an important shared electorate and decision-making process between the county and town council and that this should remain. I was persuaded of that view when reading what was said by Members about the 2000 Bill.