Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 222: To ask the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government his views on extending the town boundaries of Ballyshannon, County Donegal to enable residents (details supplied) to participate in the forthcoming elections for Ballyshannon Town Council. [44313/08]

John Gormley (Dublin South East, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Local Government Act 1994 provided that the boundaries of certain town councils could be altered by regulation, solely for local electoral purposes, following agreement by the relevant local elected councils. This was done in order to extend the franchise to individuals living in built up areas that form part of the towns but are outside of the towns' administrative boundaries. Ballyshannon is among those town councils which were so extended. The relevant provisions of the 1994 Act were repealed by the Local Government Act, 2001.

It is open to any local authority to initiate an application for a boundary alteration to have effect for all statutory functions. A number of applications for town authority boundary alterations, to have effect for all purposes, have been determined and implemented in recent years.

The Green Paper, Stronger Local Democracy — Options for Change, which I published in April 2008, presents a set of options which share a common theme of strengthening local democratic leadership. Stronger Local Democracy acknowledged that the 1994 town boundary changes have resulted in an anomalous situation in several towns, as residents of the environs of such towns may help elect a town council but do not fall within the council's functional area. The White Paper on local government, which I hope to finalise by the end of the year, will give further consideration to the general issue of town council boundaries.