Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:792. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the estimated full year cost of reinstating the local government fund to pre-2008 levels. [41262/21]
View answerTuesday, 27 July 2021
Questions (792)
Written answers
I assume that the Question refers to general purpose grants (GPG) from the Local Government Fund. The Local Government Fund historically provided local authorities with finance for funding some of their day-to-day activities, including elements of water services costs, through General Purpose Grant allocations; for non-national roads; and funding for certain local government initiatives. As a result of the introduction of Local Property Tax and the establishment of Irish Water, the local government funding model has changed considerably and accordingly direct comparisons year on year are not practicable as the removal of water related expenditures previously incurred by local authorities must be recognised.
In 2008 €979,228,405 was paid in General Purpose Grants to all Local Authorities. In 2021, it is anticipated that approximately €529.85m will be paid to Local Authorities in the form of Local Property Tax allocations. As indicated above, water-related funding, provided to local authorities as part of General Purpose Grants until 2013, is now dealt with separately through Irish Water.