A boundary extension sought by Limerick Corporation would result in the county council "finishing up as a white elephant", Deputy Michael Finucane (FG) told a special meeting of Limerick County Council yesterday. A professionally-prepared re port examining the implications of the proposed extension was adopted by the meeting.
Mr Finucane said that the demand for an extension of the boundary had come from a corporation which was in serious financial difficulties. "They recently did away with service charges in response to certain pressure and now they want to get their grubby hands on our territory."
Mr Robaird O Ceallaigh, the county manager, told the meeting: "I am frightened as to what might happen if the boundary proposal was to go ahead. The proposed extension would cost the county authority some £3.2 million per year through loss of key industrial areas, such as Raheen, in addition to almost £8 million investment in infrastructure."
Limerick city, he said, was doing very well and the mid-west exceptionally well. However, there was a moral issue involving the 26,000 people who would be affected.
Councillor John Griffin (FF) said that the proposal was "akin to the old Wild West, where the covered wagons rolled out and the Indians were pushed back". He described the demand as "a hostile bid which should be rejected".
Councillor John Finucane, the chairman of the county council, said that the corporation's demand could only be justified on financial grounds. The approach, he said, was short-sighted, "particularly in the context of present national policy".
He claimed that a boundary extension such as that proposed by the corporation would have a detrimental effect on the capacity of the county council to maintain essential public services.
The report, entitled "Statement of Response", estimated that the number of people at work in all industries in the Limerick county area had increased by 25.3 per cent over the past 20 years. The majority of growth had been concentrated in the suburbs of Limerick city, where the total at work had increased by about 300 per cent. The remainder of the Limerick county area had recorded an increase of only 6.8 per cent, with four out of eight rural districts experiencing a net decrease in numbers at work.
Tributes were paid to Frank L. Benson and Partners, Murphy Ryan and Associates and KPMG Management Consulting, who prepared the report.