Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 March 2020
1185. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government the reason for the drop in funding for County Galway despite its size compared to counties of a similar size, for example, County Cork which receive more; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3282/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraLocal authorities derive their income from a variety of central and local sources including from commercial rates, charges for goods and services and Exchequer funding from Central Government.
Central Government funding of local authorities includes 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. Across all schemes and funding sources, my Department provided €46.8m in 2018 and €51.1m in 2019 to Galway County Council.
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.
In 2018, funding to local authorities from central government sources was €3.69 billion, an increase of 39% on 2017. Additional detail on Central Government funding of local authorities is provided in the Comptroller and Auditor General's Annual Report, at the following link:
https://www.audit.gov.ie/en/Find-Report/Publications/2019/2018-Annual-Report-Chapter-11-Central-government-funding-for-local-authorities.pdf
Local authorities vary significantly from one another in terms of size, population, population distribution, public service demands, infrastructure and other income sources. These are all factors which should be taken into account when comparing levels of funding in different local authority areas.
It is a matter for each local authority to maximise local income sources and manage its own spending, in the context of the annual budgetary process.
