Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 February 2014
171. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will confirm the block grant allocation from the local government fund to Cork County Council for each of the years 2012, 2013 and 2014. [8827/14]
View answer172. Deputy Michael McGrath asked the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government if he will confirm the block grant allocation from the local government fund to Cork City Council for each of the years 2012, 2013 and 2014. [8828/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 171 and 172 together.
I presume the questions refer to the General Purpose Grant allocations from the Local Government Fund. In December 2013, I announced General Purpose Grants (GPGs) to local authorities of €275 million for 2014. When taken with the estimated water costs of up to €730 million that will be transferred from the local government sector to Irish Water this year, this represents a funding boost of approximately €98 million to the sector in 2014 in comparison with the corresponding funding and costs for 2013.
The Water Services Act 2013 provided for the establishment of Irish Water as a subsidiary of Bórd Gáis Éireann, to be formed and registered under the Companies Act. The Water Services (No.2) Act 2013 transferred statutory responsibility for water services to Irish Water and provided for local authorities to act as agents for Irish Water, with this relationship being expressed through Service Level Agreements. These agreements have now been signed by each authority and Irish Water and each included operational budgets appropriate to the cost of providing water services within each authority area. Within this overall framework, the agreement of budgets with individual local authorities and the payments for services provided is a matter for Irish Water.
The General Purpose Grant allocation for 2014 to Cork County includes all relevant town councils. The information requested is set out in the table below. The impact of the changed funding model for local authorities for 2014 is that GPG data is not comparable to previous years as it does not reflect the funding for water costs, previously provided through GPGs, which is now provided directly to local authorities by Irish Water.
Local Government Fund - General Purpose Grant Allocation
|
- |
2012 |
2013 |
*2014 |
|
Cork County Council |
€33,495,626 |
€32,048,612 |
€2,951,435 |
|
Cork City Council |
€17,265,785 |
€16,612,544 |
€8,544,374 |
* 2014 figures do not include funding for water services, now provided directly to local authorities by Irish Water.
