Cork Local Government Review

The Cork Local Government Review was a 2015 review carried out by the Cork Local Government Committee of the operation of Cork County Council and Cork City Council in Ireland. Its report recommended merging them into a single "super-council" with effect from the 2019 local elections. The recommendation was controversial and in 2017, after a review, it was dropped in favour of extending the city boundary into territory of the county.

The committee's terms of reference were specified by Alan Kelly, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, under the Local Government Act 2001. It could recommend either merging the two councils into a single local government area for County Cork, or else adjusting the boundary between Cork city and the county. The five committee members were:

After a public consultation, its report was submitted in September 2015. The majority report, by Smiddy, Curran, and Lucey, recommends a single council, with more powers than existing county councils have under the 2001 act and the Local Government Reform Act 2014. The super-council would have three subunits called "divisions", one being a "metropolitan division" around Cork city, the others respectively covering the north and east of the county and the south and west of it. The divisions would be further divided into municipal districts as defined under the 2014 act.

Keogh and Reidy submitted a minority report arguing for retention of separate city and county councils, with a boundary adjustment increasing the area of the city council. The minority report interpreted the "metropolitan division" proposed in the majority report as nothing more than a municipal district with no budgetary powers.

The majority report recommended that the "metropolitan division" around the city should correspond to the existing Metropolitan Cork statistical area, with a population of 289,739, as far out as Ballinhassig, Minane Bridge, Cloyne, Midleton, Watergrasshill, and Dripsey. It did not specify a boundary for the "metropolitan district" within the metropolitan division, but said all municipal district boundaries should be redrawn by an implementation committee.

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