There has been a mixed reaction to the decision by the Boundary Commission Review Board too increase seats in the South Wards.

An increase to the number of seats in the South East and South West Wards has come at the expense of the Cork City North West and Cork City North East electoral areas.

It now means that there are currently more councillors serving in those areas then there are seats available in next years local election, with two representatives now guaranteed to lose their seats. Other changes under the Boundary Commission Review, which have been brought on by recent shifts in the population, have seen Ballincollig moved out of the Carrigaline electoral area and over to Macroom.

Green Party Cork City Cllr Chris O'Leary expressed his satisfaction with the publication of the Local Electoral Area Boundaries. "I welcome the boundary commission report which recommends an increase in the South East Ward from six seats to seven and in Cork South West from five seats to six. I believe this balances out the representation in a more fair and proportional way."

Michael Murphy, spokesperson for the Communities for Sustainable Development, also expressed immense satisfaction with the recommendations. "Every issue CSD raised in our submission to the committee was addressed in full and to our satisfaction. The Committee received only three submissions in total from Cork city, two called for the boundaries to remain as was, including a submission from Cork City Council who voted en mass with one abstention to keep the status quo.

"CSD on the other hand looked for natural borders to ensure our area was not being sacrificed to the northside for 'social reasons'. The icing on the cake for the Model Farm Road / Bishopstown area is that we are to get six councillors in place of the current five."

Michael O'Connell, Labour representative in the North West constituency, however expressed dismay at the decision. "It's come as a complete shock. There was some expectation that one seat might be lost, but two? It's fairly clear how this happened – the population in the Northside is down in recent years simply because people have been forced to move on. Many people would love to live on the Northside but a lack of infrastructure and investment has forced them out. This is a serious blow for the area."

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