Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Byrne for raising this issue, which is close to my heart also. This situation has obtained for a long number of years and I am glad to have the chance to discuss solutions in the House. The Deputy is absolutely right about the base level of funding per head of population and that Meath is not getting its fair share. As I said when I was in opposition over many years, this is an issue which must be resolved. In my time as a Minister of State in my current Department and in the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the Department of Education and Skills my focus has been on trying to close this funding gap. The Deputy is right that we have to do it because we need a greater share of money in the county to provide parks and other services. Thankfully, a review is on the way which will give us the opportunity to do that.

When one analyses the population data, the difficulty one sees is the massive population increase in Meath between 1996 to 2006. In Meath's own submission to our Department, this was flagged. On my first day in the Department, I told officials that the funding Meath County Council was getting was not enough and had to be changed. Everyone in the Department agrees that is a fair assessment on the basis of the population. The huge increase in the population took place between 1996 and 2006. During that period, Meath's population grew by 30% above the national average. I remember trying to convince Governments at the time that Meath was not getting its fair share. Those Governments were not led by my party. When I took office, the budgets were not there due to massive funding decreases and the money was not there to correct that situation. In the last couple of years, however, we have been changing that. With increasing resources, we are in a position to allocate funds to local authorities which experienced cuts.

Counties like Meath, which deserve more, are beginning to get more. Deputy Byrne said himself that he has seen it in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport. We have changed that to ensure Meath is in the top couple of counties per year in terms of funding for sports. That is rightly so per head of population. In the Department of Education and Skills, we have changed the methodology to ensure decisions reflect population trends. We are doing well in that Department. In the Department of Health and in relation to local authority funding, it is still a question of catching up with the population. Deputy Byrne and Deputy Cassells are right about that. I have said it for years myself and I am determined as a Minister of State to ensure my Department closes that gap.

I thank the Deputy for giving me the chance to outline today the importance the Government attaches to funding for local authorities, such as Meath County Council, and our desire to ensure such funding keeps up with population trends. The funding system applying to local authorises is complex as authorities derive their incomes from a variety of sources including commercial rates, charges for goods and services and funding from central Government. Central government funding for local authorities is for a variety of purposes and involves current and capital transfers from a wide range of Departments and offices. It does not come solely from my Department. Most of the funding sourced from central government and provided to local authorities must be used for specified services. These can be grouped into a number of broad programme categories. The main such categories are housing, transport, environmental and recreational services.

In 2016, total transfers of funding from central government sources totalled €2.2 billion while my own Department provided a total of €1.26 billion to local authorities across a range of schemes. The sum provided by my Department in 2017 was €1.8 billion. Funding from my Department to Meath County Council has increased significantly over the last three or four years and is up from €29 million in 2015 to €45.5 million in 2017. This is rightly so as the funding must be reflective of the services needed in Meath County Council's functional area. I am glad that I have been able to work with the Department during my tenure to ensure that we increase the money. A recent example was that when we announced over €66 million in adaptation grants, Meath County Council got a greater share than other local authorities based on its population. We can close this funding gap over a couple of years. I have made it very clear to Deputy Byrne that we must close this gap given the population in counties like Meath. However, it can only be done over a period of a few years and as money comes back into the system which was not there before. Thankfully, we are in a position to do that.

As the Deputy knows, housing issues are a key priority of Government and significant additional funding is being provided to address them. This year, €1.9 billion is being provided for housing across the board. Meath County Council has been set an ambitious target to deliver almost 1,200 additional homes over the next couple of years through build, acquisition and leasing. I have started to meet with officials of Meath County Council and with officials from my Department and made it very clear that this is a minimum target. They have been told to go out and do what they can to build or otherwise acquire more houses and supply housing. They are not being told there is a limit on the funding. Housing was an area which did not get the proper resources in the past but that has changed. We are making the right progress to close the gap, but it is a fair assessment to say we need to close it further. That is something I am determined to do in my time in the Department.

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