Marc MacSharry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government for taking the time to come here today. I know he has agreed to meet four Deputies on this issue but I wanted to table this very important issue. The last time we discussed this issue, the Minister said other level V counties have similar numbers of staff and seem to do a better job with the resources given to them. I need to put some matters in context. Very significant progress has been made regarding the financial difficulties in Sligo County Council. There has been a 37% reduction in the number of staff, and the total now stands at 374. Among the other level V counties, Roscommon has 393, Monaghan has 385 and Laois has 384 - all more than Sligo - but none has a port or harbour to deal with, or a regeneration programme. Eight staff are involved in the Cranmore regeneration programme, and two more in the harbours. Sligo has the highest social mix in the country after Cork and Limerick. There are 2.5,000 council houses, well above the other level V counties. That requires additional administration, engineering staff and outdoor maintenance staff. The urban area in Sligo is significantly larger than in the other level V counties. The Minister says the other counties are doing a better job than Sligo despite the fact that Sligo has fewer staff and a much bigger burden of work.

The discretionary spend for Sligo County Council is €2.6 million, that is, around 4%, down from some 7% or 8% in 2008 when times were better. The surplus that will be shown this year by Sligo County Council as it strives to recover from past difficulties and its €25 million deficit is €1.6 million. That is a truly remarkable outcome from the efforts of people locally, the new council, elected representatives and the executive, with a cut of 36% in staff to well below other level V counties that do not have the same burdens. The financial plan for next year has been thrown at us in a way that reminds me of the behaviour of the troika, Brussels and the ECB as revealed in the rhetoric of Jean Claude Trichet in the farce where he came to give evidence in Dublin Castle to the banking inquiry. Department officials tell us we agreed with this plan when in reality, in August 2015, the Department prescribed the level of cuts and the surplus of €1.6 million, which is being met. Next year, that is to be €3.6 million. The Department wants Sligo County Council to have a surplus next year of 140% of its discretionary spend.

Discretionary spend is the meat and potatoes in terms of what people expect from councils. I refer to housing maintenance, local roads lighting and road safety, public conveniences, tourist development contributions, heritage issues, match funding, environmental campaigns, life-saving, beach maintenance, library books, the arts and grants. In terms of what our meeting will be about next week, which I want to put on record here today, the surplus target of €3.6 million, or 140% of the discretionary fund, is unachievable. It cannot and will not be achieved, notwithstanding the six additional staff sanctioned for the library services that were kept open, for which I thank the Minister. There are other measures coming down the track, so we will be continually fighting fires. The reality is that with all the cuts we have already made, we will struggle to meet a surplus target next year of €1.6 million. To put a surplus target of €3.6 million on it is an impossibility.

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