A FORMER Mayor of Killarney has called for the municipal district council system to be scrapped in favour of a return to the old town council set-up.
Sean Counihan said it would be in the best interests of democracy and he described the whole notion of municipal district councils as fraudulent as, he maintained, they lack autonomy and decision making powers.
Mr Counihan has called on Fine Gael TD John Paul Phelan, the minister of state with responsibility for local government, to outline the difference between county councils and municipal district councils in advance of the planned local elections in May.
“Since the Fine Gael led drive to deny town councils the opportunity to represent urban thinking and development, we have been deprived of proper local government,” said Mr Counihan a former long-serving Labour Party councillor who said he resisted approaches to contest the upcoming elections.
“The municipal elections should be abandoned and direct elections held. The practice of fake municipal councils should cease and town councils should be restored,” he said.
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