Report on county boundary between Westmeath and Roscommon due shortly

A controversial report on the future of the county boundary between Westmeath and Roscommon is to be submitted to the Government in the near future.
The report, which was delayed by over six months, is now “in its very final stages” according to Jack Keyes, the chairperson of the Athlone Boundary Review.
Mr Keyes says the report of the three-person committee has been drafted and is currently being proofread. Once this process is completed, it will be submitted to the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Simon Coveney.
Mr Keyes said he couldn’t comment on whether or not the report would be published, as it would be “up to the Minister to decide what he wants to do with it.”
The committee is expected to recommend whether or not Westmeath’s county boundary should be extended into Monksland and other areas of South Roscommon
The review was established by the then-Minister for the Environment, Alan Kelly, in June 2015, and was initially scheduled to be completed by the end of March.
CEO of Westmeath County Council Pat Gallagher made a submission to the committee arguing that an extension of the Westmeath boundary into parts of South Roscommon would “further strengthen” Athlone economically.
However, a group called 'Save Roscommon’ was set up to oppose any change to the county boundary, and a crowd of over 1,500 people attended a meeting it organised in the Athlone Springs Hotel in Monksland in January.
Just under 28,000 submissions were made by members of the public to the boundary review committee ahead of its deadline for submissions in late January.
Mr Keyes confirmed that this huge volume of submissions was “the biggest reason” why the committee’s work was delayed.
“The number of submissions was unexpected and each one had to be dealt with individually,” said the former Cavan county manager.
When asked how he found the process of working on the boundary review, he replied: “It was very interesting. It was good to see so many people expressing an opinion.”
The three TDs in the Roscommon-Galway constituency, including Communications Minister Denis Naughten, have all said they strongly oppose extending the Westmeath boundary westwards.