Online poll reveals strong local support in Mallow for the return of the town council
THE results of a snap online Facebook poll have shown that the overwhelming majority of participants are in favour of re-establishing the former Mallow Town Council.
The authority was one of 80 Town Council’s scrapped in 2014 under the Local Government Reform Bill, which the then Environment Minister Phil Hogan described as “the most radical reform of local government in 100-years.’
The key measure of the bill saw all Town Councils abolished, with the overall number of local authorities operating across the country reduced from 114 to 31.
Instead a system of municipal districts was established for local areas within County Council’s, with the total number of councillors across the country being cut from 1,627 to 949.
While some welcomed the move, others felt that it would reduce grassroots representation and make it more difficult for the public to access their local public representatives.
Last year the Labour party – which ironically was part of the Government that made the decision to abolish town councils – introduced a bill in the Dáil seeking their re-establishment in urban areas with a population of at least 5,000 residents and with 1,000 or more dwellings in a clearly defined urban area.
Despite Government opposition, the bill received the support of the Dáil paving the way for the possible restoration of town councils.
The online poll, conducted by Mallow-based Corkman correspondent Eugene Cosgrove over a 24-hour period last week, revealed there was overwhelming support at local level for the return of the local town council.
Of the 507 people who responded to the poll, 501 indicated they would be in favour a town council returning to Mallow.
One respondent, a long time resident of Canon Sheehan Place summed up the sentiments of many when she said that the town council should return as it “always had the finger on the pulse and they (the councillors) were there to listen and assist in all matters”.
Quoting the late Tip O’Neill, who famously said ‘all politics is local’ another respondent commented that Cork County Council “was not interested in local issues”, while one unnamed former town councillor admitted he was not surprised with the huge vote supporting the return of town councils.
He said the current system had resulted in a deficit of “both representational and administrative accountability” as a result of the reduced number of local councillors on the ground.
Former Fine Gael Mallow Town and Cork County councillor Noel O’Connor said it was a “sad day” for Mallow when the town council was dissolved and supported the move to reinstate it “in the best interest of Mallow and its people.”
Another man who served on both the town and county council, Labour’s Jerry Mullally, agreed that the town council should be reformed. He pointed out the authority controlled its own annual budget, put money aside to benefit Mallow projects and that as a result Mallow had, at one stage, the lowest rates in the county. He pointed out that funding for the municipal districts was now distributed over a far wider area.
Pat O’Brien, who served on the town council for five years, said he was in favour of its return saying local councillors were more in touch with the people of Mallow and able to see at first hand the issues of local interest.
However, not everyone was in favour of the town council returning, with one of the six people who polled against its return saying it was solely to blame for the controversial town plaza, which he said “had created traffic congestion in the town centre and is forcing people out of town to shop.”