There was unanimous support at the recent monthly meeting of Fermoy Town Council for a motion tabled by Councillor John Murphy to call on Environment and Local Government Minister, Phil Hogan to allow any new Fermoy municipal authority taking over after the town council is abolished under local government reform, to keep and use any monies raised through property tax, commercial rates and the like.

Councillor Michael Hanley felt however that it was a small bit premature as they didn’t know the detail as yet of the structure of the new municipal authorities and what powers may be vested in them. Cllr. Tadhg O’Donovan disagreed. “The timing couldn’t be better, before the decision is taken,” was his view.

Cllr. Murphy said he’d attended a recent meeting of the Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland at which members were asked to put the motion forward to their town and county councils.

GOOD OPPORTUNITY

Cllr. Pa O’Driscoll said he supported the motion. “It’s vague but so is local government reform. I hope Minister Hogan will give power to democratically elected members and not officials,” he said. Cllr. Seamus Coleman felt it was a great opportunity for the Government to be proactive. “We can create a local Government acceptable to people. Money goes into a central pot at present and locals see no benefit from it. Give the new body powers and funding from the start,” he said.

Cllr. Noel McCarthy was critical of Minister Hogan. “He has the power to give to local representatives but I doubt that he will. He has a poor record, he leaves a lot to be desired,” he said.