Report recommends that town councils shouldn't be reintroduced - Mayo councillor reveals

A HIGH level report due to come before Cabinet recommends that town councils should not be re-established.

A taskforce examining local democracy has unanimously agreed that bringing back town councils would be a retrograde step, Mayo Fianna Fáil Councillor Damien Ryan, who is a member of the group, revealed.

Mayo had three town councils - in Ballina, Castlebar and Westport - until they were abolished in 2014, to be replaced by municipal districts.

The taskforce's report is due to come before the Cabinet in the near future, Councillor Ryan told a meeting of the Claremorris-Swinford Municipal District (MD).

His views were supported by colleagues in south and east Mayo after they reviewed a very positive and progressive annual report for the MD, hailing the collaboration and cohesive manner in which councillors and management work together.

The 'noise' about bringing back town councils was commented on by Councillor Neil Cruise, who said they will not deliver for rural MDs. It was important to strengthen the MDs, with more money drawn down into them, he said.

Councillor Richard Finn said there had been a serious equalisation of funding around the municipal areas since the town councils were abolished.

They didn't need any more mayors of big towns 'and the rest left out in the cold'.

If there was any word on them being reintroduced, he added, they would have to stand on their own two feet and not take funding from the municipal districts, which have been a positive development.

Councillor Michael Burke described getting a pain in his head when he hears talk about the town councils.

They were a disaster for their areas in times gone by as the three big towns got the big bundle of money as that's where the rate payers were. If they did come back they should get direct funding from government, not the rate payers.

If other MDs ran like their one, they would get a lot of work done and see the results, he suggested.

Councillor Ryan said 14 members sat on the taskforce, five of them public representatives who unanimously decided the return of town councils would be a retrograde step.

They were abolished as they were ineffective and you had a two-tier society in every county. Whether you live inside or outside the speed limits, you're entitled to the same service and the same level of funding on a per capita basis, he commented.

The MD system had ended the urban-rural divide and offered a fairer, more equal and transparent system.

The report, he added, asks for town centre first funding to address issues in urban areas.

* Funded under the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme