Minister for the Environment Dick Roche yesterday ruled out Limerick City Council extending its boundary into Co Clare due to the attachment locals in the affected area have with Clare.
The move was welcomed by the mayor of Clare Pat Keane (FF). However, Limerick city's mayor, Diarmuid Scully (FG), described the decision as "a triumph of emotion over reason".
The existing boundary is in place since 1950, and the boundary extension proposal - seeking to quadruple the size of the city area - has been opposed by Limerick and Clare county councils.
Mr Scully said yesterday: "The current boundary is absurd and needs to be addressed.
"It makes no sense that the University of Limerick and the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, for example, are located within the county boundary when they are very much part of the city.
"We accept the Minister's decision on the Clare issue, but we also welcome that the Minister is not happy with the status quo and has laid out a number of options to explore."
In a statement yesterday, Mr Roche said the options to be explored by the three councils were: increased co-operation on a voluntary basis; formal co-operation/service provision across existing boundaries; and possible changes to the boundaries between the two Limerick authorities right up to novel institutional arrangements which could apply to the whole metropolitan area.
Putting off a decision on the city council's boundary extension into the Limerick county area, Mr Roche said he believed the maximum consensus on such issues should be arrived at locally before any direction from central government.
Mr Scully said he wanted to see the Minister establish a boundary commission. "Today brings us one step closer to a final decision, but what has been announced today is a 'non-decision'.
"The case has been strongly made for a single authority across the metropolitan area as it is a single economic, cultural and geographical area."
Mr Keane said: "We very much welcome the Minister's decision, and the way forward should be based upon co-operation. This was all about rates income from the city council's point of view."
East Clare-based Fianna Fáil Senator Timmy Dooley was one of the Oireachtas members from the area informed of the decision on the Clare issue at a meeting yesterday with Mr Roche at Leinster House.
Senator Dooley said: "I'm very happy with today's outcome, and the Minister has recognised the importance of community identity in the affected area."
In the boundary extension application the city council is seeking to increase the area administered by the local authority from 2,086 hectares to 8,537 hectares. It is seeking to take 4,380 hectares from Limerick County Council and 1,621 hectares from Clare County Council.
Limerick city currently has a population of 54,000, and there are 39,000 people living in the areas that are subject of the boundary extension proposal.
