Councillors angered over 'Snip' plans to axe Councils

Amongst the cuts suggested by An Bord Snip Nua, the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government would suffer thirty staff cuts and €130 million in spending cuts under the proposals.This would include cuts of €100m to local government including the axing of 12 county or town councils.Speaking about what Mullingar would be like as a town without it's Council, Cathaoirleach of Mullingar Town Council, Cllr. Ruth Illingworth said she completely against the prospect of super authorities."Towns like Mullingar and Athlone need their own representation. I'm sure there are people out there that think it would be much cheaper to have the Council officials and manager running everything. But it is part of local democracy that everyone living down all the little streets and laneways have the right to a voice," insisted Cllr. Illingworth."The fact is Mullingar Town Council doesn't actually cost that much to run. Even if you were to include us in a Mullingar Area Council, Mullingar would be included among huge rural areas such as Rathowen and Kinnegad, but the town has a huge population now and it needs its own voice,"she persisted."I would fear that we would be part of an amalgamation of constituencies, such as Longford and Westmeath, but I am not in favour of these huge super authorities, I don't think it works."They tried to do it in England, where they did away with centuries old county councils in favour of these super authorities, but they had to abolish them within months because it simply didn't work," she said.However Ruth felt that the An Bord Snip Nua proposals might never see the light of day:"I feel it won't be liked by a lot of Government Fianna Fail Councillors from this area, they will not be happy, so I can't see it going ahead," she said.Newly elected Town Councillor Gerry Sheridan said rather than downgrading the role of town councils, like that of Mullingar, there is a need for upgrading and further extending it's boundaries."While some aspects of the Snip report are rational, there are other areas that are not. Leaving aside my own personal situation of just recently being elected, I think something like this would take years to implement," said Cllr. Sheridan."The mandate has been given by the people to represent them, so I don't think they could disband the Town Council overnight."In fact I would like to see the extension of Mullingar Town Council, which was a former town commission. Mullingar should be upgraded to be its own planning authority. We also need to extend its town boundaries because some part of Belvedere Hills, Petitiswood and even Tower View are not included in its boundary," he said.