Tim Lombard (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A very important issue for Cork currently is that of local government structures. An ongoing debate has been taking place in Cork city and county in recent years if not decades regarding whether there will be an extension to the boundary. The issue has rumbled on over the past four or five years and there have been three or four reports expressing different views. There have been many columns on the issue in newspapers over the past few months. It has been very unhelpful to Cork and its development. The issue needs to be sorted out and a conclusion reached one way or anther because, unfortunately, the continuous debate and commentary on whether there should be one local authority, whether it should be a large city or what is to happen to the region of Cork has taken away from its development. We need to move forward and have clarity. The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Murphy, needs to move swiftly to ensure that whatever decision he makes is made in the next few weeks. We cannot have another situation where councils write letters and send section 29s to each other or that mayors continue to have public spats. It is not good for the region, the local authorities or the image of local government in Cork.

I hope that the Minister or the Minister of State, Deputy Phelan, can come to the Chamber as soon as possible to bring the needed clarity to the issue. A decision is needed. We do not want more debate or reports. We want the Minister to come forward with a conclusion so that we can move forward because at this stage it is stalemate in Cork. The region is not developing because all we are really doing is tearing each other apart and the knock-on effect is that the communities we serve are not being served because it is a power game at the moment. That is not good for the locality. I suggest to the Leader that the Minister come to the House to bring clarity to this issue. It is the biggest issue in Cork at the moment and needs to be sorted out once and for all for the second city and its region.