Donegal Town councils

supersonic64

Everyone happy to see the three tin pot town councils in Donegal being abolished?

muffler

Personally I am delighted to see them go but in saying that I could see why the Cllrs in Letterkenny Town Council were pleading their case.

But even the current makeup with regards to towns having urban councils just didnt make sense based on the populations of the towns. The list below taken from the 2011 census confirms this point:


Town/population

Letterkenny 15,387 - Town Council
Ballybofey/Stranorlar 4,852
Buncrana 3,452 - Town Council
Donegal Town 2,592
Ballyshannon 1,855 - Town Council
Bundoran 1,781 - Town Council
Lifford 1,658
Carndonagh 1,564
Bunbeg/Derrybeg 1,553

Donegal County Council has 29 Cllrs representing 138,662 people which equates to 1 Cllr per 4,781 persons

Letterkenny TC has 9 Cllrs representing 15,387 people which equates to 1 Cllr per 1,709 persons
Buncrana TC has 9 Cllrs representing 3,452 people which equates to 1 Cllr per 384 persons
Ballyshannon TC has 9 Cllrs representing 1,855 people which equates to 1 Cllr per 206 persons
Bundoran TC has 9 Cllrs representing 1,781 people which equates to 1 Cllr per 196 persons

So adding up the town councillors per head of population they represent comes to 36 town cllrs representing 22,475 or 1 cllr per 624 persons compared to Donegal County Councils effort of 1 cllr per 4,781 persons.

I thnk those stats prove why the town councils here should be and will be kicked to touch.

supersonic64

muffler wrote: »

Personally I am delighted to see them go but in saying that I could see why the Cllrs in Letterkenny Town Council were pleading their case.

Were they pleading their case out of self interest, or was it based on the needs of their townsfolk?

muffler

supersonic64 wrote: »

Were they pleading their case out of self interest, or was it based on the needs of their townsfolk?

Who knows, probably a bit of both

echo beach

Based on those figures the only large urban area (population over say 10,000) in Donegal is Letterkenny and it is understandable that the residents there may have different interest to those who live in rural areas or smaller towns.
Across most of Europe Bundoran and Ballyshannon (under 2,000) and even Buncrana (under 5,000) would be classed as 'villages' and there can be no justification for them have town councils especially when larger towns don't.

Donegal County Council will be increased in size to 'compensate' for loss of town councillors but this merely serves to make an already large and unwieldy council larger and more unwieldy The council chamber isn't even big enough for the enlarged number! This will decrease rather than increase efficiency as each councillor has their say on every trivial issue and meetings going on to the early hours of the morning. What is needed is ways of 'local democracy' involving people at a parish/town level in decisions that affect them while having a slimmed down county council that is focused on budgets, planning and promotion of the county.

Pique

echo beach wrote: »

This will decrease rather than increase efficiency as each councillor has their say on every trivial issue and meetings going on to the early hours of the morning. What is needed is ways of 'local democracy' involving people at a parish/town level in decisions that affect them while having a slimmed down county council that is focused on budgets, planning and promotion of the county.

Well then the solution is for councillors not to bring every trivial little matter to the meeting. Meetings should be about major issues and policies relating to how the little stuff should be dealt with.

Local parishes already approach their local representative to 'get the pot holes filled' and any more micro representation is only perpetuating the problems with the political system in Ireland.

echo beach

Pique wrote: »

Well then the solution is for councillors not to bring every trivial little matter to the meeting. Meetings should be about major issues and policies relating to how the little stuff should be dealt with.

Of course councillors shouldn't speak on every trivial matter at meetings but those that don't play the game don't get re-elected. The fault is with the system rather than the individuals who are a part of it.

Banjoxed

supersonic64 wrote: »

Everyone happy to see the three tin pot town councils in Donegal being abolished?

No, and I'd go the whole hog and recreate rural district councils and reform town councils with volunteer members elected locally to supervise services locally.

There's far too much power concentrated in too few hands in this country as it is. Devolve everything down to the lowest level possible and that way public services at all levels can be transparently priced.

supersonic64

Banjoxed wrote: »

No, and I'd go the whole hog and recreate rural district councils and reform town councils with volunteer members elected locally to supervise services locally.

I'm sure the soon to be ex-members of the various town councils would bite yer hand off to be volunteer members of yer district council:D

Pique

supersonic64 wrote: »

I'm sure the soon to be ex-members of the various town councils would bite yer hand off to be volunteer members of yer district council:D

Volunteers with paid expenses, that is!

bigwormbundoran

The Cllrs being eliminated I dont really care about, but I cant see Bundoran losing the ability to rule its own affairs being good for us. Consistently being run in the black with apparently a few million in the bank sitting earning interest.I somehow doubt the funds will be divert back here proportionately to what the town gives in once it's amalgamated, and will more likely service debt others have built up. As well as this jobs will likely be lost where the town council could afford them, but the county will deem surplus to requirements.

But I suppose it all remains to be seen really.