This article is from page 18 of the 2012-12-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 18 JPG
CLARE County Council is to make a submission to the Electoral Commission in an effort to retain the current local authority boundaries and save the North Clare or Ennistymon Area of the local authority.
A joint motion put forward by three councillors from West, North and East Clare at last night’s December meeting of Clare County Council requested that the council lobby the Minister for the Environment, Phil Hogan (FG), to have some flexibility in how the electoral areas of Clare are divided, in an effort to ensure that the five traditional electoral boundaries in Clare are allowed to continue in their current form.
While no formal decision has yet been made, it is likely that the Ennistymon Local Area and the West Clare Local Area will be amalgamated, while the East Clare, Ennis and Shannon Electoral Areas will remain. The criteria for deciding on the number of councillors who represent each area has also been changed but it is not clear as yet whether this will mean a reduction in the overall number of councillors.
The motion was put forward jointly by West Clare Cllr PJ Kelly (FF), North Clare Cllr Richard Nagle (FF) and East Clare Cllr Joe Cooney (FG).“If this goes ahead, it seems that the Ennistymon Area council would be a prime candidate for abolition. I think that we need to make the submission and hope for the best,” said Cllr Nagle. Cllr Kelly said that a “small bit of flexibility” by the Minister for the Environment would result in a a situation that was “not too different from what it is like at the moment”.
Speaking on the motion, North Clare Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) said that the local areas of the council represent different community blocks in Clare and should not be altered.
“An electoral area should be a community area – Ennistymon has very little in common with Kilrush and probably even less in common with East Clare,” he said.