Kerry councillor believes councillors should only stand in their local districts

By Alastair Tibbs, The Kerryman

A Kerry councillor has said that councillors should only be allowed to stand in the municipal district that they live.

Councillor Podge Foley said: “In reality, councillors are so busy there is no way they could take care of towns far away from them.”

As the current rules stand, council candidates need no geographical affiliation the with seat they stand in.

This means anyone living in Ireland can stand in any county if they are nominated by a voter registered in that local authority area.

If nominated in multiple local authority areas, a candidate must declare where they want to stand in writing.

Cllr Foley believes councillors must be embedded in their communities to achieve the level of awareness that a local representative needs.

“If it’s not on your own doorstep, how are you going to have an opinion on it?” he said.

Cllr Foley also highlighted importance of councillors being dispersed across districts, particularly in large regions such as Kenmare and Castleisland/Corca Dhuibhne.

As the only Kenmare municipal district councillor in Killorglin, Cllr Foley said he has his work cut out.

“I’m probably the busiest councillor [in Kenmare municipal district] because Kenmare and Killorglin are the same size, but Kenmare has four councillors and Killorglin has only one,” said Cllr Foley.

“You can only look after so many people. For me to go up to Tralee MD, I wouldn’t have a clue what’s going on. You only know your district and that’s it.

“You work so hard that trying to take another area into your thinking, forget about it. People might say they’d be able to, but they wouldn’t.”