Brendan Ryan (Dublin North, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am concerned by reports that central funding to local authorities in the Dublin area could be reduced. This is particularly worrying as we are currently in the teeth of a housing crisis in which individuals and families are being thrust into homelessness daily. Currently, local authorities in Dublin, including my own area of Fingal, need increased funding to tackle this crisis. The crisis is significantly a Dublin problem although some rural areas are also affected.

Insufficient funding is available for essential urgent housing adaptation based on assessed medical needs. Any reduction in central funding would equate to Dubliners being punished for paying property tax. My own area of Fingal contributed €18.4 million in local property tax last year and had the second highest compliance rate of any local authority in the country last year, with 94.6% of households paying the charge. This high compliance rate is partly due to the recognition by people that their local services are under financial strain and require further funding. It should not result in reduced central funding.

Fingal and the other Dublin councils already receive much lower per capitafunding from central government than other councils around the country. Fingal council, and especially its newly constituted operations department, is working hard to do more with less. It is trying to get more open spaces maintained with fewer personnel, as well as constructing paths and fixing potholes to improve roads and pedestrian safety.

The money taken in by the local property tax is not a bonanza, as is being reported in some parts of the media. It is money that should go to people on housing adaptation lists, to get stalled community centre projects off the ground, and to invest in tackling the housing and homelessness crisis. This money will not cure all the challenges facing local government - far from it. It will only moderately relieve the strain placed on local authorities.

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