Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 243: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on whether it is likely that elections to newly established town councils will be held before the next local elections in 2009. [4466/05]

Dick Roche (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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Part 17 of the Local Government Act 2001 provides that qualified electors of a town having a population of at least 7,500, as ascertained at the last preceding census and not having a town council, may make a proposal for the establishment of such a council. Under the relevant provisions of the Act, which I hope to commence in the near future, a proposal to establish a town council, and the timing of any such proposal, is a matter for the local community in the first instance, with a decision on such a proposal being a reserved function of the relevant county council, following a public consultation process. However, Part 17 also allows for the first elections to new town councils to proceed independently of the normal local election cycle.