IMPACT’s local government division has called a meeting of its branches next Friday (28th February) to coordinate local negotiations arising from the abolition of town councils. Eighty town councils are to be scrapped under the Local Government Bill, which was published last October.

The new legislation will see the number of councillors reduced by more than 40% – from 1,627 to 950 – with councillors representing municipal districts at county council level. Six city and county councils, in Limerick, Tipperary and Waterford, are also being merged into three new councils.

IMPACT national secretary Peter Nolan said that, among other things, the meeting would prioritise ensuring that no IMPACT members are compulsorily relocated as a result of the abolition of the town councils. “We need to protect members and ensure that whatever new arrangements are put in place do not force them into unacceptably long commutes or relocate them from their centre of operations and out of the communities they serve,” he said.

All the union’s local government branches will be represented by nominated delegates at the meeting, which takes place in IMPACT’s Dublin office.