A Waterford TD has called for New Ross town to become part of the Waterford municipal district, but the chairman of the town has said Wexford "won't give an inch."
This morning while in the Dáíl, Independent TD Matt Shanahan made the suggestion.
He was discussing the growth of Waterford as a city as per the latest Census when he made the call for New Ross to be subsumed into the Waterford district.
"In Waterford, we are not allowed to take Tramore, with over 10,000 people, into an administrative metropolitan boundary. It should extend down, in fact, to New Ross. I ask the Minister to have a look at that,” said Deputy Shanahan.
But, the TD was met with a very hard no and it was even suggested he started "smelling salts."
Councillor Michael Sheehan, the Chairman of New Ross Council, has said the town will never become part of Waterford.
"Under no circumstances will New Ross be a suburb of Waterford", he said. "We are absolutely part of Wexford and the boundaries with Waterford will not be changed. Waterford has not been doing well because the public representatives have not delivered enough to make it a big city like Dublin, Cork and Limerick so he thinks by bringing in more people it will make Waterford bigger. Under no circumstances are we giving an inch of Wexford.
Councillor Sheehan added that New Ross being so close to Waterford has actually held it back from reaching its full potential.
He says New Ross receives huge investment but aside from the North Quays project, Waterford doesn't compare.
Speaking to Beat News, Deputy Shanahan said that Councillor Sheehan has taken his statement out of context and that he never suggest New Ross become part of Waterford County.
"I have certainly no desire to subsume New Ross into Waterford, that wasn't what I was suggesting," he said.
He added that he wanted the extension to try to get more cohesive strategic planning within the city of Waterford and that he has been making the call since he was a councillor.
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