Shane Cassells (Meath West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman for allowing me to contribute. I welcome the witnesses from every part of local government, from councillors to executives to oversight. It is a very interesting subject and I am delighted to participate in the meeting. I pay tribute to our elected representatives in local government. They play a key role in maintaining a strong local democracy. I also pay tribute to the officials. I am well aware of the work done by the County and City Management Association and its many of its members, which include our former director of services in County Meath.

On the funding model, I have a question about the baseline figures for the general purpose grants which is included in the table circulated to members this morning. These are used for deciding whether a county gets a net contribution or deduction. Do those figures include the funds which old town or borough councils would have received from general purpose grants? The county councils were paid a general purpose grant but within those counties, multiple town councils and sometimes very large borough councils, which would have also received a general purpose grant. Does the cumulative figure for the base grant given here include the cumulative impact of the loss to town and borough councils?