With the publication last week of a review of boundaries for local elections by the Minister for the Environment, the residents of the Carrigaline electoral area have been left disgracefully under represented on Cork County Council.
The Carrigaline local electoral area (LEA)- covering Grange, Frankfield, Douglas, Rochestown, Passage West, Monkstown, Carrigaline and Crosshaven- has lost one its council seats going from a seven seater to a six seater.
As a rapidly growing and developing area the Carrigaline LEA needs fair representation to ensure that an ever increasing population is provided with services and facilities.
With 60,000 residents the Carrigaline electoral area will have only 6 councillors compared to 5 councillors for Bantry’s 20,000 and 7 councillors for Skibbereen’s 34,000 residents. This is surely not true representative democracy. The people on the southern edges of Cork City are being neglected and the consequences for development of amenities and maintenance of roads etc could be dire.
