Representatives were recently asked to meet with the McKinnon Expert Group on the Future of Local Government in Cork. This group, led by former Head of Planning for Scottish Government, has been directed by the Minster for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Simon Coveney to revisit the question of a proposed merger of Cork City and County Councils, an issue that proved contentious when it was covered by the Smiddy Report in 2015.

In this instance, having met with both city and county councils and executives, the Expert Group came to the PPN to gain more insight into the views and experience of the community and voluntary sector. In advance of the meeting, a plenary was held to discuss the issues in questions and how they would impact the PPN membership. From this meeting, as well as from the results of an online survey, a network response was collated and produced to guide representatives of the network in their discussion with the expert group. This response will shortly be made available to all network members on this site.

The PPN were grateful for the opportunity to be involved in the debate surrounding one of the biggest changes in local government structure in many years and we look forward to many more productive engagements with policy and decision makers.