Nostalgia: 125 years of Cork County Council remembered

A glossy 132-page book was launched on Monday to mark the 125th anniversary of the establishment of Cork County Council, which became a corporate entity on April 22, 1899, as a result of the passing in Westminster the previous year of the Local Government (Ireland) Act.

What existed before then was called the ‘Grand Jury System’ and their functions, along with certain functions of what were called the Poor Law Boards of Guardians, were taken over by county councils which were to be, in contrast with their predecessors, democratically elected.

Back in those sepia-tinted days, Cork County Council held its meetings in the back portion of the top floor of the Courthouse on Washington St, and this continued until 1968. County Hall — as it was called following a resolution on February 27, 1967 — had its grand opening in 1968, and, for many years afterwards, was Ireland’s tallest building at 67m.

Then, as now, how the council generated income and invested its funds was a cause of concern. In the late 1970s, following the Fianna Fáil landslide victory in the 1977 election, domestic property rates were abolished, and this created difficulties for the council.

In 1997, the then government abolished water charges and that increased the pressure further. On the other side of the balance sheet, motor tax has been paid into the Local Government Fund from 1999 and is distributed on a ‘needs and resource’ basis, while the Local Property Tax introduced in 2013 also generates income for the councils.

There’s an aspiration published in 2013 by the Fine Gael-led coalition Government Action Programme for Local Government which suggests an ambition that locally-raised funds would eventually account for 86% of local government funding. The council is, however, operating on an annual budget of €458m for 2024 and councillors and officials alike are loudly complaining about being short-changed for funds for the upkeep of the country’s largest network of roads, almost 12,000km, to the tune of €273m, excluding approximately €40m for damage caused by Storm Babet flooding, since 2008.

The personalities elected to the council and working there over the 125 years have changed considerably. Back in 1899 and for many years afterwards, the council resembled a gentleman’s club in terms of elected members and officials. The situation has improved, in the sense that 18 out of 55 of the current elected members are female, while women also occupy many of the authority’s top positions including that of chief executive.

As Nicola Radley, a senior council official, remarked at Monday’s celebratory event to mark the anniversary, as she introduced council CEO Valerie O’Sullivan to make some concluding remarks.

“Valerie is the formidable first female chief executive of Cork County Council and, imagine, it took only 125 years,” she said.