Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 5 March 2025
107. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on the allocation of the general municipal allocation (details supplied) by individual councillors, particularly in relation to any differences in practice between municipal districts; and if he will outline the framework governing such allocations. [9956/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraLocal authorities are entirely independent corporate entities having full responsibility under law for the performance of their functions and the discharge of their governance and other responsibilities. Elected members have direct responsibility in law for all reserved functions of the authority, which includes adopting the annual budget. Accordingly, it is a matter for each local authority to determine its own spending priorities in the context of the annual budgetary process having regard to both locally identified needs and available resources.
Section 102(4A) of the Local Government Act 2001, as amended, provides the legislative basis for the preparation of the draft budgetary plan for municipal districts. The Local Government (Financial and Audit Procedures) Regulations 2014 requires that the draft plan must set out the general municipal allocation (GMA) for the forthcoming financial year. The GMA is the name given to the discretionary funding made available to municipal district members for allocation in the draft budgetary plan.
The amount set aside as the GMA, and the distribution of this amount between municipal districts, is an executive function of the Chief Executive. Furthermore, decision making around how this discretionary allocation is spent is a reserved function of the elected members at a municipal district level and I, as Minister, have no function in this regard.
The Programme for Government 2025 "Securing Ireland's Future", commits to establishing a task force on local democracy with the Local Government sector to finalise a programme for the reform and strengthening of local government, including granting Councillors greater input and control over the development and implementation of the local authority budget. There will be an opportunity, therefore, for Councillors to consider this matter and input to deliberations through the Taskforce.
