South Kilkenny councillors fear the area is being claimed by Waterford once again.
Today’s meeting of Piltown Municipal District heard that a motion has been tabled in Waterford City and County Council by the Green Party’s Jody Power.
He’s calling for the county’s boundary extension to be progressed, and has been explaining why on KCLR’s The Way It Is.
The proposal has long caused fierce contention in South Kilkenny, with over 20,000 locals strongly against any changes to the existing boundary.
Cllr Eamon Aylward says he doesn’t see why the debate is being rehashed now, as it’s already been settled;
“We had this issue only three years ago, and it was put to bed at that stage. The people of South Kikenny were quite upset and annoyed with the motion to push the Waterford boundary across into South Kilkenny. There were thousands of submissions made against it at the time, and now we have to deal with a councillor in Waterford trying to raise it again.”
However, Cllr Aylward, the Cathaoirleach of the Piltown District, remains hopeful that this latest attempt for Waterford to annex Ferrybank will be unsuccesful.
The move was recommended by the Irish Boundary Commission in 2017, but was shot down by the then-Planning Minister Simon Coveney.
Cllr Aylward says this latest motion should also not be entertained:
“This is the motion that’s been put down before Waterford City and County Council, but hopefully it won’t even get past that stage. That would be my hope at the moment, so I’m not overly concerned as of yet but I don’t want it to gain any traction either. Having to get the wheels in motion on this again and again is taking a lot of time, money and effort that could be put into other projects rather than stopping any boundary extension again.”
