Concerns expressed over possible council merger

A number of former mayors have hit out at the proposal to merge Cork City and County Councils.

18 former Cork mayors have opposed any proposed merger of the the city and county councils. 

Concerns have been expressed that the city council may face abolition and one super council created to govern the entire county as part of a major overhaul of the region's local government structures.

In a joint statement the former mayors say that the idea that Cork city, the country’s second city, should be stripped of its essential powers to self-govern, 
and to strategise for the future is an extraordinary proposition.

The Cork Local Government Review Group chaired by Alf Smiddy will issue their recommendations next month after being tasked with examining the case for the first extension of the city’s boundary since 1965 or the merger of the city and county councils.

In response to the Mayors' statement Alf Smiddy said their recommendation would be what is best for Cork as a whole.

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