A row has erupted over Limerick City Council's proposals to extend its boundary by taking 22 Clare townlands under its control.
The council is proposing to quadruple the area of land it administers from 2,086 (5,155 acres) to 8,537 hectares (21,095 acres). In a proposal to Minister for the Environment Dick Roche, the city council is seeking to take 4,830 hectares (11,935 acres) from Limerick County Council and 1,621 hectares (4,006 acres) from Clare County Council. The overall extension area has a population of 39,000.
One of the reasons put forward by Limerick City Council for the extension is to address the extreme social deprivation in parts of the city.
However, Clare County Council said yesterday there was no justification for the plans and that the social and cultural effects of the proposal were unacceptable.
It also claimed it would lose over €250,000 in rates a year if the extension was confirmed.
In its submission to the Minister, Limerick City Council said it is the second most deprived area in the State and the problem can be best addressed in a balanced way by a single local authority.
It said a duplication of services by the city and county councils had led to a lower quality of services being delivered. A single authority would reduce delay and allow consistency in decision making.
It also said that when the existing city boundary was made in 1950, Limerick city had a population of 4,802. Its population is now 54,000. The council pointed out that the town of Ballina, with a population of 9,748, encompasses an area 73 per cent of the size of Limerick city.
Limerick and Clare County Councils were given six months to issue a formal response.
Last week as part of its response, Limerick County Council announced that if the boundary extension was confirmed, it would lose €8 million (40 per cent) of its €20 million rates revenue.
In its response, circulated to councillors yesterday, Clare County Council said the proposal was not founded on clear evidence. It said no valid arguments had been made to indicate that the people of Clare in the proposed boundary extension would receive a better service to compensate for the loss of identity.
However, figures supplied by Clare County Council show that overall it would make annual savings of €620,563 if the extension was confirmed.
The application, together with the councils' responses, will go before a boundary commission shortly and it will make a recommendation to Mr Roche.
Two previous applications for extensions in 1974 and 1996 failed to be determined by the department.
