A group of left-wing councillors on Cork City Council have called on the trade union movement and community associations throughout Cork city to mount a mass campaign against the proposed merger of Cork city and county councils.
Cllr Ted Tynan of the Workers Party and Cllr Mick Barry of the Anti-Austerity Alliance both strongly criticised the proposal by the Cork Local Government Review Committee in its majority report that Cork City Council and Cork County Council should be merged into a single unitary authority.
Cllr Tynan said he believed that the proposal made in a majority report by the Cork LGRC, which has been warmly welcomed by Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly amounted to a serious assault on local government which would reduce the status of Cork city.
“I believe that this proposal if implemented will be bad for Cork city and bad for the county overall,” said Cllr Tynan, who, speaking in support of a proposal for Cork City Council to take legal action against the move, also called for a broadening out of the campaign.
“I believe we should be contacting residents associations and community associations and I would also call for the support of the trade union movement to campaign against this proposal and uphold the rights of the citizens of Cork to have their own local authority,” he said.
Cllr Tynan also paid tribute to Cork LGRC members, Prof Dermot Keogh and Dr Theresa Reidy, who prepared a minority report, arguing for an extension of the existing city boundary rather than opting for a merger which was backed by the three other members of the committee.
“I applaud the dissidents in standing up the rights of Cork city,” said Cllr Tynan who added that he was certain that “the people of Cork will rally to the call” if the campaign is broadened out to include street protests and rallies.
Meanwhile, Cllr Barry, one of three Anti-Austerity Alliance members of the council, said the campaign to save Cork City Council should not be just confined to the legal challenge but should take account of the fact that a general election is looming within the next six months.
If the campaign to save Cork City Council is to win “the hearts and minds of people” then it must offer people a council which no longer imposes privatisation, outsourcing and cutbacks and which rejects the policies of austerity, he said.
Cllr Barry said he believed that the plan to create “a supercouncil” from the merger of Cork city and county council was part of an agenda designed to lead to privatisation and as a result he was not surprised to learn that employers group, Ibec was supporting the proposed merger.
He said he welcomed a statement by the Cork Council of Trade Unions opposing the proposed merger and he urged both SIPTU and Impact who have members in both councils to speak out against the merger as it will be their members who lose out in any rationalisation.
