Amalgamation of Galway City and County Council is a ‘done deal’

A merger of Galway City and County Councils was “a done deal”, which would kill off the most marginalised parts of the county – or reap huge benefits as the population reached a critical mass for attracting inward investment.

The opposing viewpoints were aired at this week’s Galway County Council meeting ahead of a meeting with a committee tomorrow (Friday) appointed by the Minister of Environment, Community and Local Government Alan Kelly which is reviewing whether to extend the city and county boundaries and a possible amalgamation of the two local authorities.

Several councillors insisted the decision has already been made and any submission to the committee was pointless.

Why else, they wondered, was Minister Kelly pursuing an agenda of reversing everything enacted by the former minister Phil Hogan, who committed to retaining separate entities in Galway while merging Limerick, Waterford and Tipperary, abolishing town councils and establishing municipal districts, which are in operation for just nine months.

Just three councillors voiced their support for a merger – Cllrs Michael Fahy, Sean Canney and James Charity, while a fourth, Tom Welby, said he was neutral.

Cllr Fahy said regional assemblies were on their way from Europe down the line – so to be merged with the city would maximise the county’s benefits ahead of those major changes.

Cllr Welby said it would give a critical population mass of 250,000 to the likes of the IDA when it came to selling Galway as a location for a multinational.

Cllr Sean Canney said the merger would bring huge benefits to the county in terms of investment.

Cllr James Charity said he was in support of the move because although businesses in the Oranmore area coughed up to 23% of the rates for the county, they received just 9% of the funding.

“It’s a little bit rich to be crying about losing that [rates] base now. I believe the amalgamation overall would lead to the streamlining of services…”

However all other councillors from across party lines united in their opposition to sharing a chamber with their city cousins.

See full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune.