KILLARNEY CELEBRATES 150 YEARS OF TOWN ADMINISTRATION

Town Government in Killarney
1859 - 2009

The Municipal Revolution in Ireland 1828 - 1860.


Between 1828 and 1860, Ireland underwent a Municipal Revolution which created
the modern system of urban government that lasted until 1973 in Northern Ireland
and still exists today, in the Republic of Ireland.

The first instalment of Municipal reform in Ireland occurred almost accidentally
as a result of the Act of Union (1800) under which eighty four (84) of the one hundred
and seventeen (117) parliamentary boroughs lost their status and only thirty-three (33)
were empowered to return MPs to the Imperial Parliament.

Out of the eighty-four (84) non-parliamentary boroughs, forty-nine (49), which had no
other function, became extinct after 1800 and by the 1830s only sixty (60) of the Irish boroughs, in total, were described as ‘effectively existing’ and a further eight (8) had a
sort of residual existence.

Between 1828 and 1854, this diminished Irish local state underwent two periods
of major reform :

1. 1828 - 1840

This period saw the enactment of several pieces of legislation including
the Lighting of Towns Act (1828); Grand Jury (Ireland) Act (1836);
Poor Relief (Ireland) Act (1838) and the Municipal Corporations (Ireland)
Act (1840).

2. 1847 - 1854

This period saw separate Poor Law Commissioners established in
Ireland, Local improvement Acts for Dublin (1849), Cork (1852)
and Limerick (1853) and the Town Improvements Act (1854)

Town Improvements (Ireland) Act (1854).

By the late 1840s, it was clear that the Irish local state was in need of further reform.
The Poor Law unions had coped very well with the extraordinary crisis of the Great
Famine and were to be given further responsibilities in succeeding decades. On the other hand, the reformed corporations were clearly struggling, mainly due to lack of powers
and adequate financial resources, and having to share their authority, uneasily, with improvement commissions and other autonomous bodies, which were widely regarded
as anachronistic and unnecessary.

In addition, the Lighting of Towns Act was regarded as restrictive both in the powers conferred and the financial provisions provided while the provisions of the Clauses Acts could only be put into action, in a particular town, by means of an expensive local Act. The result was a second package of reforms that was in some respects, almost as sweeping as the first.

Local improvement Acts were enacted for Dublin (1849), Cork (1852) and Limerick (1853) which abolished the rival local bodies and consolidated their powers into the hands of the reformed Corporations. In addition, the Lighting of Towns Act was superseded by the much more successful Town Improvements (Ireland) Act (1854) which sparked off a final wave of urban Government formation.

Under the Town Improvements (Ireland) Act (1854) any urban area with a population in excess of 1,500 could elect a body of Town Commissioners, while Borough Corporations (except Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Derry and Belfast which had their own improvement Acts) or towns operating under the 1828 Act could also adopt it.

Commissioners were elected under a broader franchise (householders with £4 instead of
£5 annual valuation) and from a wider pool of ratepayers (£12 instead of £20 valuation ) than under the 1828 Act. In addition, the new Town Boards had greater powers than under the 1828 Act, such as the authority to borrow money, to levy extra Rates to provide a better water supply and to erect public baths and wash houses.

In consequence, it was adopted very rapidly and was in operation in a total of sixty-nine (69) towns by 1863 (including four Borough Corporations and the vast majority of towns constituted under the 1828 Act). In addition, seventeen towns that had been non-municipal before 1854 had adopted it by 1863, including significant centres such as Ballina, Bray, Cobh, Fermoy, Killarney, Letterkenny, Thurles and Tullamore.

Thus it was that Daniel Cronin Coltsman and John M Bernard were appointed Justices
by the “ precept of the Lord Lieutenant, dated Dublin Castle 9th March 1859 “ for the purposes of convening a meeting of properly qualified house holders to elect fifteen (15) Commissioners for the purpose of carrying into effect the provisions of the Towns Improvement Ireland Act 1854.

Kevin O’Malley
A/Town Clerk



Killarney Town Commission

At a meeting of the properly qualified house holders of the Town of Killarney rated at four pounds sterling and upwards and of immediate lessors of premises in said town rated to fifty pounds and upwards, convened by public advertisement signed by Daniel Cronin Coltsmann and John M. Bernard Esquires the Justices appointed for the purpose by the Precept of the Lord Lieutenant dated “ Dublin Castle 9th March 1859” directing the Election of fifteen Commissioners to be Elected for the purpose of Carrying into effect the provisions of the “Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act 1854” within the Town of Killarney the suburbs and liberties thereof and held in the Courthouse Killarney on Monday the 28th day of March 1859.

Thomas K. Wilson was appointed to act as Secretary and the following Commissioners were elected:

1. Thomas Gallway
2. Walter William Murphy
3. Justin McCarthy
4. Callaghan A. O’Keeffe
5. John Martin
6. James Hamilton Roche
7. Richard Murphy
8. Denis O’ Connor
9. James Moloney
10. John O’ Leary
11. Thadee William Murphy
12. James Donovan
13. Laurence Thos Griffin
14. Owen Cashel McDermott
15. John Dunn

Daniel Cronin Coltsmann Esq. in the chair.

Extract from Minutes of Meeting of the 28th March 1859.