Page 22 - COBH EDITION 21ST DECEMBER DIGITAL VERSION

Cork one of the worst examples of a dysfunctional boundary,
says Green Party

The Green Party leader, Eamon Ryan, has described Cork as one of the worst examples of a
“dysfunctional boundary”.
The party says action is needed to prevent urban sprawl and long commuting times, which it
says is particularly bad in Cork. Cork has recently been labelled as “sprawled” by economists
with additional commuting times due to congestion greater than New York City.
The Green Party has tabled an amendment to the Local Government Bill 2018 that would in-
clude a plan for future reviews of the city boundary to take account of county council develop-
ments at the city’s fringes, a phenomenon know as the “doughnut effect”.

Pressing the amendment in the Dáil last week, Green Party leader, Eamon Ryan, said:
“Cork is probably one of the worst examples of depopulation of a city centre with the sprawl
ever outwards, the ever lengthening commute times and under-population in the city. It also
has this very dysfunctional boundary that has existed between the county and the city where
the county placed development without consideration of the impact on the city.”
“That needs to stop and it needs to change. Cork is grinding to a halt, as are all our cities,
with gridlock. It needs to start concentrating development again for social, environmental and
economic reasons.”
The government, with the support Fianna Fáil, blocked the amendment in the Dáil last week,
while accepting the reasons for it. However, the Green Party will press the amendment again
in the Seanad this Wednesday and is calling for cross-party support when it does so again.

Oliver Moran, the party’s representative in the Cork City North East ward, explained why the
amendment was so important to the party in Cork:
“The boundary extension isn’t even law and the county council is already talking about build-
ing a Kildare Village-type shopping development outside the city boundary. This is as well as
a planned new town as big as Ballincollig or Carrigaline at Monard, just 2km north of the new
city boundary.”
“These kinds of development hollow out the core of the city. They make it impossible for the
city to achieve its goals in housing, transport and business. They have to be put an end to.
The city has to be able to control the development taking place around it.”
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