Kilkenny County Council are reinforcing their stance against any potential boundary change.
There was vocal outrage at yesterday’s meeting of the local authority over Waterford Cllr Jody Power’s call to extend their county boundary into South Kilkenny. (Read about that here)
The issue was brought forward due to a motion tabled by Councillor Maria Dollard, calling on the local authority to “strengthen their partnership and collaboration” with their Waterford counterparts.
It comes as the two councils may indeed soon be working closely together, as part of a new forum which will meet in January.
However, Piltown Cllr Eamon Aylward says that Cllr Power should start focusing on issues closer to home before then;
“It’s partially grandstanding on behalf of Cllr Power to get some headlines, but he can go down a different route for it” he quipped to KCLR News. “He’s a Cheekpoint man- we’re at a delicate negotiation stage on Brexit, and fisheries is obviously a major issue there. Cheekpoint is a fishing village, so maybe Jody can direct his energies towards that and help his own constituents there.”
Cllr Aylward says he does believe, however, that the upcoming forum will improve relations between Kilkenny and Waterford.
The ‘First Citizens and Chief Executive Forum’ is holding its first meeting on January 8th, which the council’s Cathaoirleach Andrew McGuinness will be attending.
Cllr Aylward says it’s a step in the right direction, telling KCLR news that; “It’s a very welcome move and it’s a way forward. We’ve lagged behind the other regions for too long because there’s been too much intercounty rivalry, so we need to work together as a region and push the major agendas. That’s what we need to do now, and forget all these motions about boundary changes, because that doesn’t do any good in the long run it’s only causing strife and division in the long run.”
