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THE MAYOR OF Cork County Council has issued a statement about the “excellent” quality of life for residents of the local authority area, in an apparent response to similar claims made about the Cork city area.
It’s the latest twist in a row about the boundary between the city and the county. Recommendations were released last week to redraw the boundary between the two areas.
The comments from the county mayor, Councillor Declan Hurley, were made in response to Cork City Council Lord Mayor Tony Fitzgerald’s recent open letter to the citizens of Cork that county residents would experience a better quality of life within a city boundary.
“I am saddened by the tenor of the Lord Mayor’s recent letter which appears to reflect a view from within City Hall that it should not have to work jointly with its counterparts in County Hall into the future,” Hurley said.
The dispute between both mayors has arisen following recommendations to redraw the city’s boundaries within the MacKinnon report.
The report – which was commissioned by the Department of Housing - proposes extending the current remit of the city council to include Ballincollig, Carrigrohane, Blarney, Glanmire, Carrigtwohill and Cork Airport, which would see the population of the city almost double to 225,000 people.
Cork County Council had made a set of proposals to Cork City Council on a section of land it would cede, but councillors on the city council voted unanimously to reject these last week.
In the letter to some 100,000 people who live in the county council area, city mayor Tony Fitzgerald looked to reassure those affected by the proposals that being part of the city would offer Cork the best opportunity to grow.
Fitzgerald said that he was “deeply disappointed by recent attempts to whip up unnecessary fear in communities”.
“In Cork City, a growing economy has not led to a growing population as it was strangled by an outdated city boundary that had not been extended since 1965,” Fitzgerald said.
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Fitzgerald stated that the extension of the city boundary would not stop access to national or EU rural funding streams.
He also stated that the move would mean “greater spending per citizen in the expanded area”. He claimed that in 2017, the city council spent €1,363 per citizen on public services, while the county council spent €717.
I am very happy that citizens will enjoy an improved quality of life in strong communities.
Citizens will benefit from Cork City Council’s proven track record in community development, sports funding, social inclusion, arts and recreation as well as in meeting housing needs.
Arguing that the quality of life in Cork County was better than that of Cork City, Hurley referred to a 2004 city residents’ satisfaction survey.
“The city’s document shows Cork City’s rating as a place to live at 77% (77% of residents rate the city as a fairly good or very good place to live),” Hurley said.
“Cork County Council’s own recent Local Economic and Community Plan contains similar county-related quality of life survey data. It shows that 92% of county residents agree that where they live is a great place to live.”
Rounding off his comments, Hurley said:
I detect a departure from what has been a fruitful joint approach to the Cork region’s development since the 1970s.
Government plans
The government is taking steps to ensure that boundary changes to Cork are implemented and has created an oversight group to that effect.
In response to a query from TheJournal.ie, the Department of Housing said that the group’s first task is to present a detailed implementation plan by September 2017.
“The chief executives of Cork City Council and Cork County Council will work with the group to develop detailed and comprehensive proposals for the boundary alteration and to ultimately implement agreed recommendations”.
Furthermore, it says that CEOs and staff at both councils are required to “cooperate fully” with the implementation group.
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Why was he never held accountable? Why? Ireland’s very own Goebels.Despicable. Why didn’t it get taken to the Human Rights Court when out own system let these women down .
Yes I agree he should be in jail. Everyone in Drogheda knew about him and many went North or to Dublin to have their babies. Everyone was too scared to speak out lest they loose their own jobs.
Clearly Irish women’s wombs and creativity are not worth much with the amount of money they will receive. For a lifetime of misery.
The worst feeling has to be that Neary has never been jailed
Justice has to be SEEN, To be done.!
Its a shame that when he was burgled and assaulted that he didnt have his head removed when he went there for medical assistance. Why isnt he in jail?
‘there’ being hospital
Neary should be behind bars along with those who helped him and those in management who should have stopped him. The hospital at the centre of this also needs to be held accountable, did they not have any checks in place to stop this kind of abuse of patients taking place? I cannot believe he has never been arrested and charged, only in Ireland would a monster like Neary be allowed to walk around scot free.
Well, I heard one nurse tried to get the truth out and lost her job.
These doctors were treated like “gods”
Even see the way the nurses have to walk feet behind them on their rounds and the fear in the nurses body language.
We just need to see old patriarchy for what it was and is.
This hospital had a terrible reputation- not just Neary.
People even carried cards stipulating that in emergency Do not bring me to MMM Drogheda.
Also in the 1990′s unmarried girls were treated like sinners and made to suffer. You had to have seen it and experienced it to comprehend.
Why was this man not jailed
its Ireland.
They were just women after all, second class citizens. That was the mentality and no one can say otherwise.
Well done to the women, their persistence with the support of Patient Focus – they now have got for us what our solicitors couldn’t
Redress? What redress? Still the same old, same old. Trying to save money at the expense of justice. The Supreme Court awarded one of these women 250,000 10 years ago: today the Government offers 60,000 – 100,000 for the same injury. Women over 40 were having children when Judge Harding Clark excluded them on age grounds from the terms of a so-called redress scheme that was then rubber stamped by HSE funded patient groups. And what’s this about 30 days in which to apply? Is this another cost saver, drawn up in the hope that late applications will disqualify some?
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