Newry councillors visit South Dublin

Brendan Curran

A cross-party delegation of councillors from Newry and Mourne District Council received a warm welcome from their colleagues in South Dublin County Council last Monday night. The reciprocal visit came a week after a delegation from South Dublin County Council travelled North to visit Newry and Mourne as part of the Confederation of European Councillors European Exchange programme.

Cllr Mark Daly, Sinn Féin Group Leader on South Dublin County Council, was the first to welcome the group, following a presentation on the work of Newry and Mourne Council, and noted with pride the large Sinn Féin presence there. "I am especially glad to see that there are a dozen Sinn Féin councillors in Newry and while we might only have three here yet, we're catching up fast," he said.

A number of issues were raised by councillors with the Newry delegation, including cross-border dumping, the different powers and responsibilities for councils on either side of the border and the issue and benefits of city status, recently obtained by Newry and a matter of interest to many in Tallaght.

South Dublin councillors were taken aback to discover that unlike the extremely restricted powers available to them, in the Six Counties councillors have complete responsibility for their areas of work.

Cllr Daly also raised the issue of the proposed reduction of councils in the Six Counties, a question dealt with by his party colleague, Cllr Brendan Curran, who told the council to some bemused laughter that "the new buzzword in local government in the North is 'coterminosity'.

"In the absence of the final proposals we are still examining the issue but at its centre must be democratic accountability. We have an enormous number of quangos in the Six Counties accountable to no one and costing tens of millions every year. Changes in the structures in the councils might leave us with fewer councillors dealing with a larger number of constituents."

He went on to observe, however, that "these kinds of changes might well being us more into line with the structures here in the 26 Counties, which will have its own benefits come re-unification".

As well as Cllr Curran, the delegation included Andy Moffet of the UUP and Josephine O'Hare of the SDLP and Eddie Curtis, the Council's Director of Administration.

Cllr Curran presented Cllr Robert Dowds, Mayor of South Dublin, with a plaque at the end of the evening and spoke of the importance of meetings like this. "It is time we started learning more about our colleagues 90 miles away and built formal twinning relationships across this island," he said.