Longford County Council sign ‘agreement of co-operation’ with US State of Maryland

Longford council's CEO, Paddy Mahon, told members at the January meeting of the local authority that the visit was about “promoting cooperation between State bodies in Ireland and the State of Maryland”.

When in Longford the Maryland delegation visited the site of the 'Lady Baltimore' statue, situated on Baltimore Lane, in Cloonageeher townland, beside the county boundary with Leitrim. The statue was a gift to Longford from Baltimore in 1974 in recognition of Baltimore’s founder, Sir George Calvert, who was granted the title Lord Baltimore of Baltimore in Longford by King James I of England.

Mr Mahon told members: “The representatives visited the statue put in place 50 years ago. They are very keen to extend the hand of friendship and co-operation to Longford. They proposed we sign an agreement of friendship and co-operation.”

The local authority CEO said Longford was not the only target for such a proposal: “Something very important to them is the historic connection with the equine industry. They have been in touch with Counties Kildare and Tipperary about similar agreements.”

Asking members for their support Mr Mahon said: “It's the first step. I am proposing to members that we adopt the protocols in this list.”

Cllr Colm Murray voiced his support for the proposal: “I think this is a welcome development. It's different in its approach to normal twinning arrangements. One of the biggest differences is that the approach has been made to this local authority by the State of Maryland. This is the bones of a very good agreement.”

Cllr Murray said: “I am happy to propose the adoption of this agreement.”

Fianna Fail's Seamus Butler was supportive, but voiced concern about the proposal: “It's very short notice,” he said, “A lot of work has been done under Barbera's (Heslin) directorship to establish protocols for twinning. One of the cornerstones is funding. We have been told unless we have specific funding we will have to allocate money out of the Longford Municipal District budget to fund twinning projects.”

Cllr Butler said the links with Maryland may present possibilities other twinning arrangements do not present: “This link may present real business opportunities,” he told members.

The prospect of twinning with Maryland's capital, Baltimore, was last raised in 2018. Back then two council representatives, Senator Micheál Carrigy and Deputy Joe Flaherty clashed. Senator Carrigy said there was merit in exploring a potential twinning arrangement with Baltimore, owing largely to its mutual affiliation with the English politician and coloniser George Calvert.

While Deputy Flaherty said Baltimore was “way off the mark” in meeting the high standards set by a county looking to strengthen its economic and social capacity.

The elected members passed the proposal to sign the agreement of friendship and co-operation between Longford and the State of Maryland.