It could only happen in Wexford. 3 months out from a local
election and 5 months after the boundaries were set by a commission, some
Wexford County Councillors are still not happy. They want the minister
responsible to ignore his own commission and retain boundaries that have seen
urban areas effectively managed by rural based councillors.
About 5 years ago Wexford Borough Council was abolished. We
had about 6 months notice. Politics is a tough trade. Local politics is the
toughest of the lot. Small margins here or there effectively decide the last
seat and who wins. In rural areas it is parochial. Small communities like to
have their local councillor. It really doesn’t matter which party they come
from, if at all.
Rural communities understand county councils a lot better
than urban areas. That’s what is behind this row. It has everything to do with
prioritising small villages over large towns. When the borough council was
abolished Wexford District was “compensated” by being allocate an extra council
seat to ensure better representation. However when it came to the election in
2014, Wexford Town which had 4 outgoing county councillors ended up with the
same number while candidates living in rural areas won 6 of the seats, doubling
the rural representation in Wexford District.
Few would argue that it is in the interest of County Wexford
that the urban areas are underrepresented. That precise number remains a secret
because when the tricky matter of the new boundaries was put to councillors
this week, they held their discussions in camera away from the media. Why they
should do that remains a mystery. Were it not for Wexford Today, the goings on
at the council would remain a secret.
By all accounts with the press out of the room, imaginations
took off. It degenerated into Wexford’s own version of the Brexiteers. Magical
thinking that the old days can come back if we hold out for a better deal. In
fact councillors have already had submissions lodged and their amendments made
to the proposals. This is apparently for some not enough
In the end they decided to ignore the entire report and its
terms of reference which set out 5-7 seats per ward with small wards of 3-4
allowable on the basis of geography. Instead they asked that the status quo of
3 8 seaters and one 10 seater should remain! And if the minister doesn’t agree
with that, they want to meet him to leave him in no doubt as to what he should
do.
And to think that 5 years ago when the writing was on the
wall for the Borough Council some of us were getting our political affairs in
order before going before the electorate by putting down motions on local
issues which would come up at the hustings. Weren’t we the fools?
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