This article is from page 13 of the 2011-04-12 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 13 JPG
THE new Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan (FG), is to be tackled my members of Clare County Council on the issue of extending the Limerick boundary into Clare when he visits Clare in the coming days.
This follows recent activity on the part of Limerick County Council who it is feared are attempting to reignite the boundary debate. It had appeared that the question of the Clare/ Limerick border had been shelved after both Fine Gael and Labour gave commitments not to change the counties dividing line in the run up to this year’s General Election.
However, following recent contact between Minister Hogan and the new Mayor of Limerick, Cllr Maria Byrne (FG), it is feared that the possibility of a boundary debate may be put back on the table.
The debate centres around more than 5,000 Clare people who live on the border with Limerick City and County. Under the Brosnan report, commissioned last year, it was recommended that a new super local authority be created by combining Limerick City and County Councils as well as a section of South East Clare.
In a motion put forward by Cllr Pascal Fitzgerald at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council calls were made for Clare to stand up for themselves in relation to the boundary issue.
“Every time there is a new mayor down in Limerick something seems to happen and this comes up again,” he said. “We thought this was all dead and buried but it doesn’t seem to be the case. We need to stand up for ourselves on this issue.”
The motion was support by Shannon Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) who said that Clare County Council needed to be “watchful and vigilant” of the threat posed by Limerick. She also called for an urgent meeting to be arranged between Clare County Council and Minister Hogan.
Speaking on the motion Cllr James Breen (Ind) said that all Labour and Fine Gael councillors should threaten to resign their seats or resign from their parties if the boundary issue is put back on the table.