'Dogs in the street' know that Borough Council should be restored

A survey could be conducted to ascertain the public’s views on the abolition of Clonmel Borough Council and South Tipperary County Council ten years ago, but it isn’t possible to hold a plebiscite or referendum on the issue.

This was stated by District Manager Sinead Carr at a meeting of Clonmel Borough District.

Responding to a request by Cllr Niall Dennehy for a plebiscite or referendum, Ms Carr said the Minister for Local Government had been made aware of the request when it was made in 2021.

It had been confirmed by the minister’s office that there was no facility for the Borough District to hold a referendum or plebiscite and it didn’t have the authority to do so.

The minister also indicated that he had no intention of revisiting the 2014 Act, which had abolished Clonmel Borough Council and merged South and North Tipperary County Councils.

All they could do was to work within the parameters of the law, Ms Carr added.

Cllr Dennehy said “the reality is we have no business being here. We have no powers whatsoever,” adding that the Borough District was only “a lollipop committee”.

He vowed that he wouldn’t be silenced by political opponents, council officials or the media.

The reality is that his request for a referendum had received the full backing of the Borough District members. The county council is the elected members and not the executive, he stated.

The 2000 Local Government Act guaranteed people two votes every five years. In this area that meant votes for Clonmel Borough Council, or Clonmel Corporation, and South Tipperary County Council.

That was enshrined in the Constitution. But when that act was “dumped out” in 2014 the government “didn’t give a damn” about constitutional requirements.

The question of the abolition of the Borough Council should have been put to the people in the form of a referendum, and even though it was ten years later people still needed to have a say on this, said Cllr Dennehy.

They should also propose that €480 million of funding that had “gone to Nenagh” should be returned to Clonmel and South Tipperary.

Cllr Pat English agreed that they were all in favour of bringing back Clonmel Corporation or Clonmel Borough Council. It had served the town well and had ensured they had the capital to do works in the town that they didn’t have now.

He regretted the fact that the funding collected in Clonmel didn’t stay in the town, and this was something that was done by a Fine Gael government.

The government parties had made a commitment at the last local elections to reintroduce borough councils, he added.

Cllr John FitzGerald said that Fine Gael had performed a duty in government that others weren’t prepared to take up. At a recent Fine Gael meeting, Cllr Michael Murphy had asked that the restoration of Clonmel Borough Council would be brought up at the party’s Ard Fheis.

Slimmer local government had been required but the abolition of borough councils was something that should have been looked at more carefully, said Cllr FitzGerald.

Cllr Michael Murphy said he didn’t need a plebiscite to tell him that the vast majority of people in Clonmel wanted the Borough Council to be restored. He said he would continue to fight for the restoration of borough or town councils and the reform of local government, particularly in relation to legislation on rates.

He agreed that the 2014 Local Government Act didn’t represent good vision or ambition.

Cllr Siobhán Ambrose said the great irony of this was that when a budget of over €200 million was proposed by Tipperary County Council last year, only two of the six Borough District members, District Mayor Richie Molloy and Cllr Ambrose, voted in favour.

The dogs in the street knew that they all wanted Clonmel Borough Council restored, but funding was still coming into Clonmel.
“We’re not being starved of anything,” she said, whether it was funding for the sports hub, housing, the Kickham Barracks Plaza or the Active Travel schemes proposed for safety works at the Loreto Secondary School and Gaelscoil Chluain Meala, said Cllr Ambrose.

The other members had an opportunity to ring fence funding for Clonmel but had failed to do so, she said.

“I make no apologies for voting against the budget because it proposed a rates increase for the businesses of Clonmel,” said Cllr Michael Murphy.