Eugene Murphy (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There are more than 275,000 people in the Galway city and county region. Senator Crowe and I spoke about this issue a couple of weeks ago, following which we decided to raise this matter jointly. I am concerned about the towns along the Roscommon-Galway border such as Ballinasloe, which I am convinced is suffering because its town council was removed, but we are hoping to have reinstated. Other towns such as Ballygar, Glenamaddy, Dunmore, Williamstown and Newbridge will suffer if this merger goes ahead. It is the wrong decision, although I acknowledge it is only at the consultation phase.While we can share services, we must keep the two areas separate - the county council and the city council. We must remember Galway city has huge potential and is growing and, as Senator Crowe said, it has a big rural spread as well. I would be in favour of keeping the city council and county council in place.