Councillor Mark Ward of the Palmerstown/Fonthill local election area as urged the Minister for Local Government to change the name to North Clondalkin/Palmerstown/East Lucan. At the September area committee meeting Councillor Ward had a motion passed calling for the name change. Cllr Ward said: “The Local Election Areas were changed recently prior to Mays local elections. Previously we had two Local Election Areas in Dublin Mid-West. These were Clondalkin and Lucan and residents could easily identify which area they were in and who their elected representatives were” “There are now 3 LEA’s of Clondalkin, Lucan and Palmerstown/Fonthill. There has been some confusion from residents in relation to Palmerstown/Fonthill. I first became aware of this during the local elections. Supporters contacted me from North Clondalkin and asked why I wasn’t running in my area. They looked up the Clondalkin candidates and noticed my name wasn’t there. I had to explain the changes to them”
“Since the elections I have had residents of North Clondalkin and East Lucan contacting Councillors in Clondalkin and Lucan to deal with issues. Also members of the media have contacted public representatives outside the Palmerstown/Fonthill LEA on issues directly involving the Palmerstown/Fonthill LEA. This adds to the confusion” “I am a proud native of Clondalkin. I was reared in North Clondalkin and I would like to see this reflected in the name of the Local Election Area. The same can be said of people of East Lucan. I am calling for the name Fonthill to be dropped. Fonthill may be a historic townland name but the only relevance it has today is the name of the road” “I am pleased to say that after yesterdays meeting that the Council will look at changing the name of the Area committee. This does not require Government apprpoval.” “I am calling on the Minister to change the name to North Clondalkin/Palmerstown/East Lucan LEA to represent the 3 distinct areas within it”
