Cork City Council is to propose extending the city boundary after councillors last night unanimously backed an expansion plan drawn up by the city manager.
However, the move looks set to meet a hostile response from Cork County Council after councillors yesterday strongly criticised the proposal and accused the city council of "grabbing land for development".
Under the proposal, drawn up by Joe Gavin at the request of city councillors, the land area of the city would increase from 3,961 hectares to 18,170 hectares, with the population rising from 119,000 to 180,000.
Fianna Fáil city councillor Damian Wallace said agreement should be sought from the county council. If that was not forthcoming, the city council should seek approval directly from government, he said.
Fine Gael's Jim Corr was equally supportive of the proposal, saying the city could not grow as envisaged in the Cork Area Strategic Plan without expanding its land bank and increasing its population.
Labour's Ciarán Lynch said he had surveyed some 200 houses in the areas of Douglas covered by the county council and found that 60 per cent of people wanted to be included in Cork city and serviced by its council. However, the proposal provoked an angry response at yesterday's meeting of Cork County Council, with members accusing Mr Gavin of shabby treatment by releasing details to the media before discussing it with Cork's county manager, Maurice Moloney.
County councillors said the matter should have been discussed at the joint city-county committee, which had worked well in the past on other issues, rather than have county councillors learn about it from the media.
Fine Gael's Tomas Ryan said the fact Cork City Council had a declining population and no land was not the fault of the county council, and the move should be rejected. "Not on your nanny, Joe Gavin - it is our lands and we shall not be moved."
Labour's John Gilroy from Glanmire said he believed this was a clever "kite-flying exercise" by Mr Gavin, aimed at securing for the city council high-value sites such as Monard and Little Island, which are earmarked for commercial development by the county council.
Fianna Fáil's Alan Coleman said it was ironic that Cork City Council was now seeking to expand its area to include both the Cork airport business park and the Eastgate business park in Little Island when the city council had strongly opposed both developments.