Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to have an opportunity to speak on this motion. I compliment my colleague, Deputy Michael Collins, who tabled it. The funding of local authority services is the most important and critical issue which will affect the success of any proposed amalgamation. The underfunding of Galway will be significantly worsened if the proposed amalgamation of Galway City Council and Galway County Council proceeds without an overhaul of funding on the part of the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government. Earlier this year, an expert advisory group examined the possibility of abolishing the city and county councils and replacing them with an greater Galway authority. This amalgamated authority would cover a vast geographical area from the River Shannon to the Aran Islands. It would include Galway city, which currently has a defined city boundary. Following this review, the amalgamation was unanimously recommended by the expert review group. While there may be some merit for strategic planning and economies of scale for shared services, this proposal should not proceed as long as the current funding model is in place.

County Galway's local authorities are vastly underfunded at present. It is instructive to review counties of a similar size and scale to County Galway, such as counties Mayo, Donegal, Kerry and Tipperary. Among this cohort, Galway County Council has the highest population, the lowest staff complement, the lowest per capitabudget and the lowest rates base. However, Galway makes the largest contribution to the local property tax equalisation fund. Aside from Kerry, Galway is the lowest recipient of equalisation fund allocations. I would like to compare the figures for counties Galway and Mayo. At the end of 2015, Galway had 740 whole-time equivalent staff and Mayo had 928 such staff. Galway's overall budget for 2016 was €104 million, whereas Mayo's budget was €125 million. Galway's per capitabudget was €599, whereas Mayo had a budget of €962 per head of population. Galway's commercial rates base for 2016 was €25.5 million and the equivalent figure for Mayo was €28.8 million. At the 2016 census, the Galway County Council area had a population of 179,000 and the Mayo County Council area had a population of 130,000. Most startlingly, Galway's allocation from the local property tax equalisation fund in 2016 was €1.063 million, while Mayo received €9.319 million. Galway's contribution to the local property tax equalisation fund in 2016 was €2.8 million, while Mayo paid in just €2 million.

This situation will get worse if Galway City Council and Galway County Council amalgamate. The per capitabudget, which is approximately €684 at present, will still be the lowest of the five comparable counties. It is clear that the ongoing budget shortfall is having a direct impact on services and staff morale in Galway. Five of the seven main personnel in Galway County Council are in acting roles at present because permanent positions cannot be filled due to a lack of funding and uncertainly regarding the potential amalgamation. This means that major decisions cannot be made. Galway County Council's planning office has just half the staff of Mayo County Council's planning office. As of May 2017, the Galway office is processing twice as many planning applications. The erosion of funding has resulted in no local authority housing construction in recent years. This lack of funding has contributed to the national housing crisis, the lack of critical infrastructure, planning delays and difficulties, minimal repair and maintenance of local roads and a host of other problems. Regardless of whether the proposed amalgamation proceeds, the Government needs to review how local authorities are funded. The local property tax was introduced in 2013 to improve and enhance funding for local services. All that has happened since its introduction has been a reduction in the general purpose grant paid by the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government to local authorities.

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