Should Waterford City and County councils merge?

wellboytoo

just bumping this up rather than start a new thread, the commitee set up by Herr Hogan was to have given it's judgement by late Feb early March, anyone hear anything?

comeraghs

somebody should make the submission that everywhere inside the ring road of Ferrybank become part of the city too!

only logical!

BBM77

comeraghs wrote: »

somebody should make the submission that everywhere inside the ring road of Ferrybank become part of the city too!

only logical!

You are right it is only logical; unfortunately what we will get is the same old tribal nonsense that we always get when this is suggested. It is just beyond ridiculous to think that Waterford city would have a say in what happens in Tallow, about 60 miles away, but have no say in what happens in one of its own suburbs. :mad:

Nypd

The county councils could take a leaf out of the city councils book,
I was in Tramore on Sunday and I have to say it was shocking the state the place was in.
The amusement area being a complete and utter eye sore.

wellboytoo

Nypd wrote: »

The county councils could take a leaf out of the city councils book,
I was in Tramore on Sunday and I have to say it was shocking the state the place was in.
The amusement area being a complete and utter eye sore.

I walked the City Sunday morning and Tramore in the afternoon and the state of Tramore is what prompted me to bump this thread, they would definetly benifit by being merged with the City, it was filthy, even the litter picked on the beach pick was still in clumps all the way down to the sandhills uncollected.

padraig.od

comeraghs wrote: »

somebody should make the submission that everywhere inside the ring road of Ferrybank become part of the city too!

only logical!

What would be logical is Waterford City joining Co. Kilkenny and leaving the rest of Co. Waterford for the Comeragh crowd. The new Co. Kilkenny would have a good balance (cities on each end) and would address a lot of the Waterford City whining re "Waterford" port, Ferrybank, the train station etc. The new unified Kilkennyford council would also have a fairly equal representation of urban & rural councilors.

Search your feelings, you know this to be true.

mike65

Only way Waterford will win the McCarthy Cup....;)

merlante

padraig.od wrote: »

What would be logical is Waterford City joining Co. Kilkenny and leaving the rest of Co. Waterford for the Comeragh crowd. The new Co. Kilkenny would have a good balance (cities on each end) and would address a lot of the Waterford City whining re "Waterford" port, Ferrybank, the train station etc. The new unified Kilkennyford council would also have a fairly equal representation of urban & rural councilors.

Search your feelings, you know this to be true.

That's not the *most* ridiculous suggestion. Considering 5% of Co. Kilkenny is actually Waterford city (about 4.8K out of 95.4K).

Urban areas are entirely different to rural areas and should have their own administration. A 70-75K city council should be created taking in the suburbs in Kilkenny, Tramore and East Waterford. The county counties should be merged along similar boundaries to the Dail constituencies, or probably better, just downgrade county councils to the equivalent of town councils and empower the regional authorities. We have to get the GAA out of politics. Until we do, the country will be run along tribal lines. Considering the GAA is only 125 odd years old, it is irritating to think that this tribalism is mainly a modern creation.

The problem is, with Hogan in the hotseat, and with the Dublin intelligensia only interested in rationalisation by any old plan at all, we can expect to see GAA boundaries even further entrenched following any shake-up. This is what abolishing city councils will accomplish, and even in the idea of merging the two Tipperary councils, again we see an automatic, unthinking restructuring along county lines. Because, as we all know, it's very important that the place we pay our motor tax has the right GAA bunting flying around the time of the championship...

It's a pity Dublin wasn't on a county boundary. Then all of a sudden you'd find a striking sensitivity to the problem of GAA boundaries and the need for urban councils. Then again, as the thinking often goes, there is only one city in Ireland, and the rest of the country is just a rural paradise/wasteland anyway (so let Hogan do whatever he likes as long as he saves money).

Bards

The 5 x Cities are distinct urban entities, be self managed, should have directly elected Mayors and be directly responsible for Roads, Transport, Planning, Education, Raising Local Taxes etc. within at least 15 Km radius of their respective City Centres.

The rest of the country should be amalgamated into regions and have no more than 6 regional administrator bodies

Do you think this will happen - No

Smiley Burnett

The commitee set up by phil hogan cant examine/look at, or make any suggestion that waterford city be expanded into south kilkenny.

it's not part of their remit

fuzzy dunlop

Smiley Burnett wrote: »

The commitee set up by phil hogan cant examine/look at, or make any suggestion that waterford city be expanded into south kilkenny.

it's not part of their remit

Because it makes sense and Phil Hogan knows it. That is why it is outside the terms of reference. As is the more sensible aproach of merging Carlow/Kilkenny or County Waterford and South Tipp.It's the oldest trick in the book.

merlante

Smiley Burnett wrote: »

The commitee set up by phil hogan cant examine/look at, or make any suggestion that waterford city be expanded into south kilkenny.

it's not part of their remit

Well he'd hardly embarass himself by setting up a committee that gave the wrong answer now would he? That would be like commissioning an expert report that didn't give you the answer you paid for.

apache6

as gman said;

"Of course Turkeys don't vote for Christmas, so we won't see any progress in this area anytime soon."

I thought they did in the last referendum?

Swissarmyknife

There was a motion last night to merge both city and county councils.
It was defeated by 9-6,four FG and Two Lab voted for the merger.

Dicky Pride

The mayor himself even voted for it. The mind boggles.

Yes Boss

Dicky Pride wrote: »

The mayor himself even voted for it. The mind boggles.

Just following Party orders, like the other FG sheep...A sad day for Waterford.

Dicky Pride

I know, but symbolically, a mayor voting for the dismemberment of his own office...

AdMMM

There's still going to be a Mayor of Waterford City.

Yes Boss

Dicky Pride wrote: »

I know, but symbolically, a mayor voting for the dismemberment of his own office...

That is it - a sad reflection on him and his Party (FG)...It appears that FG have learned nothing from the 14-years of FF other than to replicate their conduct.

fricatus

AdMMM wrote: »

There's still going to be a Mayor of Waterford City.

... who will be on a par with the mayor of Clonmel, Drogheda, Ennis etc., but not on a par with the mayors of Cork and Galway.

Waterford will be a municipality, "up" there with the Sligos and Tralees of this world. Cork, Galway and Dublin will have their own city councils, which will be equivalent to county councils, so as to underline the importance of those cities.

Can you not see the difference?

Yes Boss

fricatus wrote: »

... who will be on a par with the mayor of Clonmel, Drogheda, Ennis etc., but not on a par with the mayors of Cork and Galway.

Waterford will be a municipality, "up" there with the Sligos and Tralees of this world. Cork, Galway and Dublin will have their own city councils, which will be equivalent to county councils, so as to underline the importance of those cities.

Can you not see the difference?

Can anyone provide a coherent counter argument in favour of this merger? I haven't heard one yet!

AdMMM

Haha don't jump on me just yet. I'm 100% against this merger. I was just pointing out that there would still be a mayor.

Professey Chin

Yes Boss wrote: »

Can anyone provide a coherent counter argument in favour of this merger? I haven't heard one yet!

Apparently we're better off with 1 united voice for the entire county which is complete horse sh1t because it simply won't work that way

Yes Boss

The Great Chinholio wrote: »

Apparently we're better off with 1 united voice for the entire county which is complete horse sh1t because it simply won't work that way

That's the only reason I have heard to date. Now how has one united voice serviced Wexford, Kilkenny, Kerry etc..? Our one united voice will be smaller than the others in the region - thus a downgrade of Waterford City - which is the argument made by WGAS.

Trick of the Tail

Since Waterford will still be a city, as its city charter is still valid, not only will it have a mayor, but a Lord Mayor.

The 'city' nomenclature will not change. Only the status of the municipality with reference to others will change.

If it makes things more efficient, all the better.

However efforts must continue to be made by our elected representatives - and the citizens - to halt and reverse the lack of respect this area receives from central government.

A.

wellboytoo

The saddest part of it all is Waterford City Council is working very well for the first time in my memory and when it does they want to get rid of it!

wellboy76

mike65 wrote: »

Only way Waterford will win the McCarthy Cup....;)

And therein lies the problem, the GAA mentality is the crux of the Fault. Put down the sticks lads, there will still be counties, nothing should stop administrative cross overs though

Professey Chin

wellboy76 wrote: »

And therein lies the problem, the GAA mentality is the crux of the Fault. Put down the sticks lads, there will still be counties, nothing should stop administrative cross overs though

Sure we'd have to stretch to ballyhale to get any decent players. It's mainly crap teams trying to hold onto the kilkenny coattales we'd be taking pac:

Deise Tom

Only heard a small bit of it on the 10am news this morning on WLR, but what has Mary Roche found that could force Phil Hogan to look at what he is doing again. I heard her say that in her eyes he cant merge councils in accordance with some 1991 act.

Dunmoreroader

The Great Chinholio wrote: »

Sure we'd have to stretch to ballyhale to get any decent players. It's mainly crap teams trying to hold onto the kilkenny coattales we'd be taking pac:

D'you know I'm sick and tired of hurling getting dragged into this by somebody or other eventually if the thread goes on for long enough; it's boring. Cricket in the UK still adheres to long defunct county structures while local government has been updated e.g. Warickshire for cricket, West Midlands for greater Birmingham local government.
Enough already with the hurling!