Local Government Reform Seanad Éireann — 2021-02-08 ============================================================ Peter Burke (FG), Longford-Westmeath I thank both Senators for putting down the Commencement matter and their outline of the financial circumstances that pertain in both local authorities. Before the budgetary process, I met the city manager and their team as well as the county manager and their team in respect of the pressures on discretionary funding from our parking, swimming pools and leisure facilities. Both are very progressive and we look forward to working with them in the future and working with both Senators. The context and the discussions about mergers are controversial. There is no doubt in that. Hopefully, if we all work together through this review, we will be able to get an outcome that can meet the needs of the citizens of Galway, because there is huge potential in Galway. I spent probably the best three years of my life in the National University of Ireland, Galway, NUIG. It was very enjoyable. The city has huge potential as does the county. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2021-02-08/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:49:02+00:00 Sitting date: 2021-02-08