Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank both Deputies for raising this issue because it is one of real concern in Sligo. I met last week with the chief executive of the local authority in Sligo. It was not a political meeting. It was a meeting to go through a letter he had sent to me outlining the challenges the council faces. It is important to say that every local authority has a responsibility to manage its expenditure in a way that deals with everything from debt to providing an acceptable level of local services. It is true that the current chief executive came to the position in Sligo and is trying to deal with a lot historical debt issues. There have been numerous meetings between very senior officials in my Department and officials from Sligo County Council and we continue to work with them to try to ensure that they can implement the plan that was signed off by the local authority only nine months ago.

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