Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 July 2021
719. Deputy Johnny Guirke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount of allocated local government funding that was spent in each local authority area per capita of its population in tabular form. [40606/21]
View answerThe funding system that applies to local authorities is a complex one, as authorities derive their income from a variety of local sources including commercial rates, charges for goods and services and funding from Central Government.
Central Government funding of local authorities similarly presents a complex picture, with transfers, both current and capital, coming from a wide range of Departments and Offices, not solely from my Department, for a variety of purposes. Some streams of funding are delivered directly from funding departments to local authorities, while others are routed through departmental agencies.
Most of the funding sourced from Central Government and provided to local authorities must be used for specified services. These can be grouped into 5 broad programme categories: recreational, education, environment, housing and transport
Local authorities vary significantly from one another in terms of size, population, population distribution, public service demands, infrastructure and other income sources including commercial rates - all factors which should be taken into account when comparing levels of funding in different local authority areas.
Additional detail on Central Government funding of local authorities is provided in the Comptroller and Auditor General's Annual Report, accessible at the following link:
www.audit.gov.ie/en/Find-Report/Publications/2020/2019-Annual-Report-Chapter-2-Central-government-funding-of-local-authorities.pdf
The attached sheet details the total 2020 expenditure from my department only and the results of the 2016 census.
