"They got a hammer to break an egg," pharmacist and businessman Matt Murphy says of a Fine Gael-Labour government decision to abolish Macroom Town Council in Co Cork and 74 others.
Tomorrow the Dáil will vote on a Fianna Fáil private members’ bill to reverse that move and restore town councils.
“I think generally town councils were a good thing,” Murphy says. “I don’t think any council will keep your business afloat, but from a democracy point of view, they were good,” he says.
Having a town council meant there was a point of contact for people who wanted to set up a business , he adds.
Hotelier Don Buckley, who runs the Castle Hotel in the centre of town, says a lot of people were very concerned when the council was abolished . Although people's worst fears were not realised, many would like to see it restored, he says.
“I think people do miss it, and if there was a small issue or a big issue, you knew where to go,” he says. “We’re lucky in that we have a couple of county councillors living in the area, so accessibility isn’t as big an issue as we feared.”
Buckley says the absence of a town council makes it more difficult to get funding for local festivals, while the lack of a mayor means there is no elected office-holder to represent the town when welcoming visiting groups.
No mayor
Macroom mayor Martin Coughlan, who also serves as chairman of Macroom Tidy Towns Committee, points to a recent event in the town's "twin" of Bubry in France, where the Macroom delegation was without a mayor to represent it.
Coughlan also says funding for local projects is now more difficult to source despite the best efforts of the local engineer and municipal authority chief executive, given that the new authority now stretches from Blarney in the east to Ballyvourney in the west.
“It’s a huge area and I certainly think if there was a town council, it would help keep pressure on various projects to ensure they are delivered.”
