‘Independence for Clonmel’ amid debate to revive borough councils
“Independence for Clonmel” was behind a motion brought before the Dáil by Tipperary South TD Michael Murphy to reestablish Clonmel Borough Council, and other borough councils across the country.
Speaking to the Irish Independent, Deputy Murphy said that the Clonmel Borough dates back to 1608, and that it should be reestablished under the Government’s Local Democracy Taskforce.
"There has been some soundings from the Taoiseach in particular, and I know during the General Election back in November when he visited Drogheda, he said on the record that the abolition of borough councils, and indeed many of the town councils, was a mistake,” Deputy Murphy said.
"Now that the Government has established this Local Democracy Taskforce that I felt that it’s really important to keep this on the agenda … I spent 15 years as a local councillor, I’m a strong advocate for local government,” he added.
"I genuinely believe that in terms of many of the challenges we face at a national level, that some of these challenges can only be truly solved with the meaningful involvement of local government and local authorities”.
The Local Democracy Taskforce commits to reforming and strengthening local government, as outlined in the programme for Government.
According to Deputy Murphy, the abolition of Clonmel Borough Council, as well as the amalgamation of North and South Tipperary County Councils in 2014 had a “huge” impact on Clonmel.
"I felt that the power base switched to Nenagh and I did call for independence for Clonmel,” he said.
The restoration of the borough council would allow monies made in Clonmel to be reinvested back into the town, the Fine Gael deputy said, and would ensure that the town could benefit.
"Clonmel is really strong, we have a lot of commercial rate payers here and there’s a real concern about the lack of transparency in terms of all these monies going into a centralised pot and how much of it is coming back to Clonmel?
“Parking charges is another example, I think in terms of Tipperary, 50% of all parking charges is raised in Clonmel, and I don’t think it’s sustainable, so that’s why I’ll continue to champion independence for Clonmel and the restoration of the borough council,” Deputy Murphy said.
“I have faith in Tipperary County Council and I do have confidence, and I’m a strong advocate for local government, and while we can often be critical of Tipperary County Council, at the same time I think they do get an awful lot right,” he explained.
Highlighting the issue of a lack of resources from central Government for local authorities, Deputy Murphy said that’s another issue that needs to be addressed.
"I think one of the failings of Tipperary County Council is the extent to which we’re resourced at the national level and whatever about the reestablishment of the boroughs, which is basically financial independence for towns like Clonmel, there’s a separate issue as well and that’s the extent to which local authorities are financed at the national level and that more than anything impacts on Tipperary County Council’s ability to do its job,” Deputy Murphy added.