Five mayors have demanded a meeting with the Minister for the Environment, Mr Dempsey, as the campaign to preserve the status of their historic boroughs intensifies.
At their second meeting within a week, the mayors of Kilkenny, Drogheda, Sligo, Wexford and Clonmel called for an urgent meeting with the Minister to prevent the downgrading of their urban areas.
Under the Local Government Bill, which will come before the Dail in the autumn, the borough corporation status of the five areas will be downgraded to that of town council.
In a combined statement issued after a two-hour debate in Kilkenny's ancient city Tholsel (city hall), the mayors said: "We are continuing and intensifying our campaigns over the coming weeks in a co-ordinated and planned manner.
"While we are not opposed to the entire Local Government Bill, many of whose provisions we welcome, there are aspects of the Bill which are of grave concern to us and the citizens of the communities which we serve. These include the erosion of the services which our boroughs at present provide."
The mayors want the Minister to adopt an alternative wording to the relevant section of the Bill, in order to retain the five borough corporations and Kilkenny's city status.
A "Save our City" petition in Kilkenny, which was granted its first charter by James 1 in 1609, has been signed by more than 18,000 people.
"If they strip away our powers, we will be left as mayors in charge of nothing but the St Patrick's Day Parade," Kilkenny's Mayor, Mr Paul Cuddihy (FG), commented.