Newcastle West to go to polls over naming of town Square

THERE are  39 people eligible to vote in the plebiscite to be held shortly on the proposal to name the Square in Newcastle West as Con Colbert Square.

No date has yet been fixed for voting but a list of those eligible to vote has been drawn up by Limerick City and County Council. That list includes 14 resident electors and 23 rate-payers.

According to Fianna Fail’s Cllr Michael Collins, the council will shortly make this list public and it will go on public display in the council offices in Newcastle West. At that point, it will be open to members of the public to make submissions about the list.

But, Cllr Collins stressed, submissions cannot be about the proposal itself.

Cllr Collins made the proposal at a meeting of Newcastle West Municipal District late last year and the matter was then brought to the full council where it was agreed to proceed to the next stage. This involved drawing up the list of those eligible to vote i.e. residents on the electoral roll and rate-payers.

The council will now be writing to these people explaining the procedure, Cllr Collins told the Limerick Leader this week.

“I am delighted the process is moving forward and that the people of the Square will have their say,” the Newcastle West councillor said. He believes, he continued, that the plebiscite would bring to a conclusion something that was first proposed in 1966 but not proceeded with. “Everything is clear now to let the plebiscite go ahead. Now it is just to set the date. And then it will be up to the electors.”

It will require a  majority of four out of seven to pass the proposal, according to Cllr Collins.

Con Colbert, born in Castlemahon and reared in Athea, was one of the leaders executed for his part in the 1916 Rising.