Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2025-11-12
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Micheál Martin (FF), Cork South-Central

I thank the Deputy very much for raising an important issue that is close to my heart. At the time, I opposed the abolition of town and borough councils. As a democrat, I believe in fundamental layers of democracy. Town councils played a very effective and impactful role in their day. In the first instance, they were a channel for people to get involved in communities and politics and to outline plans and visions for their towns. As Deputy Healy says, in Clonmel and all across the country we have very good examples, including in Clonakilty, Kinsale and Dungarvan. They were all effective.
The problem is that when the system gets rid of something, the system then has to be dragged kicking and screaming to re-establish it. We have set up the task force because in the intervening period what replaced the town councils were the area-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-11-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-11-12