The chairman of the Limerick Local Government Committee has defended the decision to seek a boundary extension in to parts of South East Clare as "a logical step forward.
Under proposals recommending a single authority for Limerick City and County, the report concludes that Shannon Banks, Westbury and the north campus of UL from Clare to the newly extended city also be governed by the new body.
Speaking at the launch Denis Brosnan stated that Limerick was dead and warned that every part of the mid west region would suffer if this wasn’t fixed.
He also said the work of the Government-established Mid West Jobs Task Force and other job-creation agencies would be redundant if action wasn’t taken.
Clare County Council has repeatedly stated its opposition to allowing Limerick govern any part of Clare but Mr Brosnan was adamant the areas affected naturally fall into Limerick’s hinterland
Meanwhile Shannon Development is urging the government to act on the recommendations as quickly as possible.
Chief Executive Vincent Cunnane says a boundary needs to be extended to ensure a larger and stronger Limerick City with the necessary scale and resource base to drive the economic development of the Limerick / Shannon Gateway.
Shannon Development strongly believes that the long term economic development prospects of the Shannon Region are best served by having Limerick City as a strong, vibrant metropolitan core fulfilling its potential as the economic driving force of the Region over the next twenty to thirty years. We view the recommendations in this report as an important step in achieving that.”
