I propose to take Questions Nos. 141 to 143, inclusive, together.
General purpose grants are a contribution from my Department towards meeting the cost to local authorities of providing a reasonable level of services to their customers. €640,903,434 was paid to local authorities from the Local Government Fund in general purpose grants in 2013. The following table details the general purpose grant payments from the Local Government Fund to all local authorities in 2013:
Local Authority Name
|
2013 €
|
Arklow Town Council
|
1,200,969
|
Athlone Town Council
|
1,231,467
|
Athy Town Council
|
543,047
|
Ballina Town Council
|
1,209,373
|
Ballinasloe Town Council
|
645,234
|
Birr Town Council
|
590,609
|
Bray Town Council
|
3,138,743
|
Buncrana Town Council
|
666,687
|
Bundoran Town Council
|
404,340
|
Carlow County Council
|
8,560,762
|
Carlow Town Council
|
1,265,988
|
Carrickmacross Town Council
|
442,918
|
Carrick-On-Suir Town Council
|
860,228
|
Cashel Town Council
|
490,624
|
Castlebar Town Council
|
693,522
|
Castleblaney Town Council
|
343,549
|
Cavan County Council
|
14,123,740
|
Cavan Town Council
|
621,373
|
Clare County Council
|
10,072,651
|
Clonakilty Town Council
|
450,662
|
Clones Town Council
|
441,092
|
Clonmel Borough Council
|
2,235,458
|
Cobh Town Council
|
904,763
|
Cork City Council
|
16,612,544
|
Cork County Council
|
32,216,090
|
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council
|
24,772,291
|
Donegal County Council
|
31,149,821
|
Drogheda Borough Council
|
3,047,680
|
Dublin City Council
|
52,613,531
|
Dundalk Town Council
|
3,410,323
|
Dungarvan Town Council
|
673,294
|
Ennis Town Council
|
1,625,178
|
Enniscorthy Town Council
|
878,576
|
Fermoy Town Council
|
627,850
|
Fingal County Council
|
19,619,590
|
Galway City Council
|
5,750,549
|
Galway County Council
|
27,400,744
|
Kells Town Council
|
343,356
|
Kerry County Council
|
18,374,432
|
Kildare County Council
|
20,634,229
|
Kilkenny Borough Council
|
1,203,255
|
Kilkenny County Council
|
15,105,892
|
Killarney Town Council
|
1,251,767
|
Kilrush Town Council
|
461,460
|
Kinsale Town Council
|
298,163
|
Laois County Council
|
13,136,013
|
Leitrim County Council
|
11,952,743
|
Letterkenny Town Council
|
756,453
|
Limerick City Council
|
8,264,861
|
Limerick County Council
|
17,668,930
|
Listowel Town Council
|
533,911
|
Longford County Council
|
11,488,728
|
Longford Town Council
|
830,162
|
Louth County Council
|
9,090,024
|
Macroom Town Council
|
454,502
|
Mallow Town Council
|
823,011
|
Mayo County Council
|
27,650,043
|
Meath County Council
|
21,360,037
|
Midleton Town Council
|
420,864
|
Monaghan County Council
|
11,968,784
|
Monaghan Town Council
|
787,065
|
Naas Town Council
|
1,067,472
|
Navan Town Council
|
472,669
|
Nenagh Town Council
|
805,581
|
New Ross Town Council
|
741,554
|
North Tipperary County Council
|
14,504,742
|
Offaly County Council
|
12,217,139
|
Roscommon County Council
|
15,828,208
|
Skibbereen Town Council
|
320,195
|
Sligo Borough Council
|
2,000,541
|
Sligo County Council
|
13,584,307
|
South Tipperary County Council
|
17,302,006
|
South Dublin County Council
|
16,370,168
|
Templemore Town Council
|
479,867
|
Thurles Town Council
|
693,222
|
Tipperary Town Council
|
599,444
|
Tralee Town Council
|
2,078,813
|
Trim Town Council
|
404,706
|
Tullamore Town Council
|
878,613
|
Waterford City Council
|
5,415,345
|
Waterford County Council
|
18,176,169
|
Westmeath County Council
|
16,055,537
|
Westport Town Council
|
581,332
|
Wexford Borough Council
|
1,684,540
|
Wexford County Council
|
15,912,433
|
Wicklow County Council
|
14,357,641
|
Wicklow Town Council
|
1,141,936
|
Youghal Town Council
|
834,709
|
The local government funding model has changed considerably in 2014 and, in particular, the establishment of Irish Water and its financial relationship with the local government sector has had a considerable impact on the local authority financing model. I expect that the Local Government Fund will provide up to €486.5 million to Irish Water in 2014. This amount will fund the water-related expenditures incurred heretofore by local authorities, and met by them from their own resources and general purpose grants.
The funding to be provided to each local authority for the provision of water services in 2014 will be governed by Service Level Agreements (SLAs) between Irish Water and individual authorities. I have no function in relation to agreeing the level of payments to be made to local authorities by Irish Water under these SLAs.
My Department has asked Irish Water to put in place specific arrangements to address the queries which public representatives may have in relation to matters pertaining to the operation of water services under the new utility. I understand that Irish Water has made contact with Oireachtas members to outline the arrangements for addressing such queries in a timely manner.
The amount to be paid to local authorities from the Local Government Fund for general purpose grants in 2014 is €281m; this figure recognises the removal of water related costs from local authorities to Irish Water in 2014 and the individual authority allocations are, therefore, not directly comparable to 2013. The following table details the proposed general purpose grant allocations from the Local Government Fund to local authorities in 2014 (the allocations to County Councils are “county at large” allocations in respect of the County Council and any Town Councils within the county).
Local Authority Name
|
2014 €
|
Carlow County Council
|
5,352,469
|
Cavan County Council
|
8,458,415
|
Clare County Council
|
2,646,284
|
Cork County Council
|
2,951,435
|
Donegal County Council
|
22,720,760
|
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council
|
5,724,579
|
Fingal County Council
|
454,714
|
Galway County Council
|
12,506,381
|
Kerry County Council
|
11,043,837
|
Kildare County Council
|
9,686,924
|
Kilkenny County Council
|
9,356,019
|
Laois County Council
|
7,631,324
|
Leitrim County Council
|
8,282,319
|
Limerick County Council
|
6,175,333
|
Longford County Council
|
8,119,493
|
Louth County Council
|
8,243,835
|
Mayo County Council
|
17,492,594
|
Meath County Council
|
8,799,199
|
Monaghan County Council
|
10,247,882
|
North Tipperary County Council
|
9,832,046
|
Offaly County Council
|
6,663,642
|
Roscommon County Council
|
9,107,439
|
Sligo County Council
|
8,993,352
|
South Dublin County Council
|
923,906
|
South Tipperary County Council
|
12,923,064
|
Waterford County Council
|
12,125,219
|
Westmeath County Council
|
10,115,479
|
Wexford County Council
|
11,888,576
|
Wicklow County Council
|
6,846,310
|
Cork City Council
|
8,544,374
|
Dublin City Council
|
2,667,330
|
Galway City Council
|
1,626,429
|
Limerick City Council
|
8,449,826
|
Waterford City Council
|
4,399,212
|