Dividing responsibilities between central and local government is a recurring topic in political debates, and often controversial.

The national authorities down the years have centralised local government functions; most recently the water industry, following earlier removal of responsibilities from county councils in health and education sectors.

Meanwhile, land use and planning moved in the opposite direction since the 1963 Planning and Development Act, and is now a local responsibility, with little scope for central government to intervene; even though the housing crisis has become national in character.

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There have also been changes to the geographical delineation of local authority boundaries, as well as the reclassification of municipal structures below the county level.

A current controversy concerns the town of Drogheda, which has seen rapid population growth and is, according to planning experts, bigger than Waterford – which enjoys formal city status along with Cork, Dublin, Limerick and Galway.

'Resistance' to upgrading

There has been resistance to an upgrading of Drogheda, since it should logically entail the inclusion of suburban appendages, currently deemed to be in Co Louth or in Co Meath. These county authorities would lose some of their tax-base to the new city, mainly commercial rates, since residential property tax is not remitted fully to the councils - and local expenditures, current and capital, are dependent in large degree on allocations from the centre.

Urban sprawl, however short-sighted, has been the chosen land use policy in Ireland for decades and the cities have expanded their footprints far more widely than made sense, resulting in car dependence and long-distance commuting.

The politicians, who have presided over this long-running policy, lament the consequences and sing the praises of the 15-minute city, while urging people to rely on public transport, for which they have created such a hostile environment.

The growth of the distant suburbs, around Dublin in particular, is now a fact on the ground and the delineation of local authority boundaries might as well catch up.

There is therefore a case for city status for Drogheda and for a re-definition of its boundaries, but there is arguably a greater problem in Waterford, where the city fronts onto the river Suir, which continues to form its northern boundary.

What ought to be the northern suburbs of Waterford are in county Kilkenny. As a result, Waterford has far fewer northern suburbs than ought to be the case. This is one of the reasons why population growth in and around Drogheda has surpassed the figures for Waterford.

The boundary conundrum

In 2019, some sensible decisions were finally taken about extending the municipal boundaries of Cork, which now embrace the suburbs, which had sprawled into the county in recent decades, and it is now easier for the city council to plan higher densities and put an end to the sprawl.

Limerick city and county were amalgamated in 2014 and the ‘reintegration of the national territory’ (as promised in Eamon de Valera’s 1937 constitution) has finally been achieved, at least in Tipperary – where there is now one council instead of two.

Dublin has had four councils since 1994, a more manageable structure than what had gone before, but the boundaries remain arbitrary, especially in the northwest of the city.

The politicians, who have presided over this long-running policy, lament the consequences and sing the praises of the 15-minute city, while urging people to rely on public transport

Clonee in Co Meath and Leixlip in Co Kildare, less than 20km from the central area, are both suburbs of Dublin for all practical purposes and no longer regarded as especially distant. The inbound commuter traffic on weekday mornings is pretty formidable by the time people hit Clonee.

If the logic employed in Cork could be borrowed, these suburbs would be reclassified into neighbouring Fingal.

The Irish counties are a legacy of the 19th century, successors to the grand juries of Queen Victoria’s Ireland. The attachment of Irish people to county boundaries owes as much to the Gaelic Athletic Association as it does to demographic reality, or to administrative common sense.

Is it possible that there would have been greater opposition in Cork to the city’s boundary extension, and in Limerick and Tipperary to the amalgamations, if there had been consequences for county hurling teams?

What ought to be the northern suburbs of Waterford are in county Kilkenny

If Waterford was not seen as an occasional rival to Kilkenny in the small-ball game, would the sacrifice of territory have been resisted successfully?

Perhaps political agreement to a more rational northern limit to the city boundary must await the conversion of Waterford to football and a reduced threat to the Cats.

In England, the structure of local government has been re-drawn radically, not without controversy.

The attachment of Irish people to county boundaries owes as much to the Gaelic Athletic Association as it does to demographic reality, or to administrative common sense

There are now unitary authorities in many parts of the country, amalgamations of smaller bodies which corresponded to the Victorian counties, many of which were deemed simply too small for cost-effective local administration, as are many of their Irish counterparts.

Resistance to abolition was confined to nostalgics and the elected members of the doomed councils.