Vol. 502 No. 4
139 Mr. Hayes asked the Minister for the Environment and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to a proposal from Sligo Corporation to obtain city designation; if this proposal has been formally lodged with his Department; if there are other proposals from other areas of the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8544/99]
I have not received any proposal regarding the classification of cities; any such proposal would require legislation. Under current local government law the term county borough applies to the areas of the five centres which are commonly regarded as cities. Each has its own local authority with a city council and an organisational, financial and staffing structure entirely separate from that of its county and is responsible for the full range of local authority services. For reasons of effectiveness and cost there are no proposals to create additional such local authorities – which would effectively mean the division of a county or counties. Apart from the general local government law local practice has been that in the case of at least one local authority the term "city" is for local historical reasons used in respect of an urban centre which is not a county borough.
A major local government Bill is currently being drafted which will, inter alia, provide a modern legislative basis for our local government system including the titles of local authorities. It is not intended that this would interfere with local practice.
