Dear Sirs,

I refer to the editorial in last week’s Avondhu regarding the abolition of UDCs and agree wholeheartedly with the sentiment expressed in the editorial. The goings-on at Fermoy UDC in recent times reminds one of the best (or worst depending on your viewpoint) of Frank Hall’s Ballymagash Council.

Most sensible proposals regarding community and public works emanate firstly from council engineers and secondly from local residents and business people who relate them to their local councillors, who then ruminate over them much like a cow, having four stomachs, ruminates on its fodder four times before it produces anything of value (milk), and which in the interim, generates a lot of wind from one end and a lot of hot air from the other (you can take your pick as to which end is which).

UDCs or town councils have rarely if ever produced anything as useful as natural nourishing milk. It takes only one cow to do this task, and on that basis I would suggest that one Councillor per town area should be more than sufficient to produce anything half as good as a litre of milk.

About 10 or 12 years ago Mitchelstown looked to join those favoured towns having its own UDC. The Raison d’etre for this was (a) to secure more local spending from Council funds and (b) to gain much better local democracy and say-so over its own affairs. Minister Phil has promised more local powers, funding and democracy with far less rumination (and expenses) in his proposal to abolish town councils, and to have councils and councillors more answerable to the people, who as already noted, generate most sensible proposals in the first place. Lets keep Big Phil to his word and eliminate most of these expensive Ballymagash-type ruminating entities at the same time.

Yours Sincerely,

Kevin T Finn,

Kingston Close,

Mitchelstown.