Could Fianna Fail spell the end of Town Council?

A planned shake-up of local government by Fianna Fail, which could see the annihilation of town councils across the country including Mullingar, has not been welcomed by local representatives.Local councillors expressed their outrage at the new plan announced last week by Transport Minister Noel Dempsey saying it is "one step closer to taking democracy away from people" if just one set of councillors represent their area at both town and county level on what Fianna Fail calls new Urban and District councils.According to Fianna Fail, the aim of the plan is stop "duplication" of councillors, eliminating the 744 town councillors elected across Ireland, and increasing the number of county councillors from the current 883. Currently most town councils have nine members and the general area has five county councillors. Fianna Fail's plan would see seven councillors elected to represent both functions.Representing his area at both town and county level, Cllr. Ken Glynn said he is one Fianna Fail man who will not be supporting the move because it is one step closer to taking democracy away from people:"I was a town councillor in my own right before becoming a county councillor so I know both sides of the fence and I know a lot of policy comes out of it (town council)," explained Cllr. Glynn."It's important that towns have their own voice, their own identity. It would be a backward step and I know plenty of my colleagues in the party will not support this," he said.In agreement with Cllr Glynn, FF Councillor Aidan Davitt said it would be "a bad idea", especially for a town like Mullingar: "It costs very little to run the Town Council and councillors don't get paid for being a Town Councillor. The cost is extremely small, which I know isn't the case with some other councils."Our town council is a lot different to other town councils, which are smaller. But for Mullingar with a population of over 25,000, it provides an essential service and it runs its affairs very efficiently. It is one of the oldest town councils in existence so I wouldn't be happy to see it go."FG Cllr. and Cathaoirleach of Mullingar Town Council said there was no justification in what Fianna Fail are trying to do:"It is an important voice for the town of Mullingar. What they want is huge big regional authorities taking power away from the local areas."I think it will not work, it didn't work in Britain and it won't work here. A record number of candidates ran for election to the town council, a total of 22 people thought it worth trying to get elected to it."They might say its a waste of money because we have no power, well if they think that then let them give us back the power the town council once had."The town council started in Mullingar in 1856, it is older than Westmeath County Council by 44 years. Local government goes back eight centuries in Mullingar before there was ever a county of Westmeath. It has worked well for several centuries so why change it," she questioned.