Why do Moville & Greencastle not have Urban Councils like Buncrana?

Posted Wednesday, June 10, 2009

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Urban Council

Whilst following the local election results on the radio, waiting to see if Moville residents Marian McDonald and Martin Farren would get in, I also heard, in passing, the results of the Buncrana Urban Council elections.

There were nine seats to be won there and it was keenly contested.

Having an Urban Council is a big boost to Buncrana.

Committees

In Moville there are lots of committees who do a very good and useful job doing things like running festivals, getting the children's playground up and running, looking after Moville Green etc.

There is even a festivals and events umbrella committee called Moville Events.

So, why no Urban Council to get things done in Moville?

Councillor Farren

It was a question I put to Councillor Martin Farren a while back (when he was plain Martin Farren).

He said that it had been mooted before but that it seems that a town has to have a population of 2,000 or more to qualify.

Wikipedia has Moville's population as 1,427 in 2006.

So, it would be too small - unless we counted people with second homes here.

Greencastle

However, Grrencastle has a population of 570 according To Wikipedia in 2002.

Could they not join up and form a Moville and Greencastle Urban Council.

For those who have just done the maths that gives us a total of 1,997 people - just three short of the number needed.

However, Wikipedia also gives the numbers for Greencastle 'and its environs' as 747.

That would put Moville & Greencastle (and its environs) well over the top and would qualify them for Urban Council status.

Joint Towns

Can towns link up to get Urban Council status or can they just do it on a town by town basis with only those with populations of more than 2,000 qualifying?

I don't know the answer to that but I can think of lots of good people about the town who would do a great job for the two towns on an Urban Council.

It's worth looking into.

Update

I've just looked into it on Wikipedia here - Town Councils in Ireland

Bundoran has a Twon Council and its population is 1,726

Indeed, Ballybay, in Count Monaghan, has a Town Council and it has a population of just 401.

So, why not Moville?

How does one apply to get one?

Is there some reason why Moville is excluded from having an Urban Council or have they just never asked before?

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