The establishment of Cork City and County Council as a single local authority unit is a crazy idea. The sheer size and diversity of the area and its needs should caution against it. Yet the prospect of such a merger has caused 18 former lords major of Cork to join together and accuse county council executives and the local chamber of commerce of advocating that agenda. The controversy will have provided a welcome diversion for those city and county officials who have been criticised for poor-quality corporate governance.
Because of long-standing county council opposition to an expansion of the city's boundaries, Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly recently appointed a review group to examine whether this should now happen or, alternatively, that the two local authorities might be amalgamated. A report is expected in September. Cork county is the largest local authority area in the State. Under the Local Government Reform Act of 2014, 12 different town councils were abolished and their functions absorbed by the county council. It now has 55 elected members. Cork City elects 31 members. Putting these politicians together in a single chamber and expecting to emerge with a focused, responsive and creative local democracy is just not credible. It would, however, add to the influence of unelected officials.
For the past number of years, the Local Authority Auditor reported on inadequate financial controls, poor value for money and weak compliance with public tendering rules in both the city and county. The shortcomings identified were not confined to Cork but, significantly, officials there had failed to deal with weaknesses identified during previous audits. As two of the best-funded councils in the State, this situation is unacceptable. Rather than squabble over boundaries – and the potential revenues involved – the focus should be on transparency and the quality of public service. City boundaries should be expanded to include satellite towns and higher-quality corporate governance should be required from officials in both jurisdictions.