This article is from page 4 of the 2006-04-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
NEWS that Clare will most likely be ruled out of any boundary extension to Limerick City has been welcomed by local representatives.
Councillors in the South East Clare area have been campaigning against a bid to take parts of the county into Limerick city, under an extension of the city boundaries.
Labour councillor, Paschal Fitzgerald, said that he was pleased with the decision. “Now that Clare will not be touched, we can hopefully get on with other business.”
He added that now that the county was to keep the South East area, the local authority would have to fully take ownership of it.
“The county council will have to recognise that East Clare needs more facilities, such as community centres. The authority needs to show East Clare that we are staying put.”
Cllr John McInerney(FG) said that he was “delighted” with the decision. “If Limerick moved in from that side and Galway from the other side, we would be left with a county no bigger than Leitrim.”
He added that on the ground “most people are very pleased. It is a sensible decision. Limerick gets Limerick and Clare keeps Clare.”
But there was some disquiet among the local representatives about the fact that the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, was bringing the Clare County Manager to the table of the boundary commission.
The move puzzled Councillor Cathal Crowe(FF), who said that there should be no need for Clare to be involved with talks on the boundary extension.
“I am glad the Minister has taken this decision, particularly at a time when we are voting in the county council on important plans for the area. For instance, we have money for play facilities and Parteen and Meelick need playgrounds. I am pleased that we can now move ahead on these issues.”
“I’m still a bit dubious that our county manager is being called to Dublin.
“We should not need to be at the negotiating table if Clare has been ruled out of consideration for inclusion in the extension.”
He added that Clare County Council could continue to work alongside Limerick, as it had been doing in the spatial strategy, but should not be dragged into the formal decision on the boundary extension.