Peter Burke (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank both Deputies for giving me the opportunity to outline funding and Government support for local authorities, with particular reference to Galway County Council.

Across all schemes and funding sources, my Department provided €82.9 million in 2020, €84.4 million in 2021 and €24 million to the end of September 2022 to Galway County Council. Included in this is the unprecedented level of support provided by central government during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In 2020, Galway County Council applied a 100% commercial rates waiver to just over 3,500 businesses and recouped €10.2 million in that regard. In addition, in recognition of Covid-related income losses and additional expenditure incurred, my Department provided funding of €2.5 million to Galway County Council in 2020. This support continued in 2021 when the Government introduced a nine-month commercial rates waiver applying to businesses most seriously affected by the restrictions, and a more targeted waiver for the final quarter of the year. Galway County Council received €7.3 million for this waiver and an additional €1 million for Covid-related income losses and expenditure for 2021.

The total cost of the waiver for the local government sector for 2020 and 2021 was €1.2 billion, and €191 million was paid out in additional support towards lost income and expenditure for the same period. In addition, the limited quarter 4 rates waiver has been extended to the first quarter of this year at an estimated cost of €61 million. Galway County Council will receive a recoupment of €950,000 in respect of this waiver.

For 2023, the Government is making a significant contribution of €421 million to support local authorities. A large portion of this figure, €287.2 million, will go towards assisting local authorities with the cumulative effect on pay costs arising from the national pay agreements and the unwinding of the financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI, legislation. This allocation will ensure that local authorities will have the necessary resources in terms of people to perform their functions and provide essential public services to our citizens; in excess of 1,000 services, in fact. The pay allocation for Galway County Council for 2022 is €5.8 million. This will rise to €8.1 million in 2023 to take account of the most recently ratified pay agreements.

As committed to in Programme for Government: Our Shared Future, the move to 100% retention of local property tax, LPT, will take place in 2023. All equalisation funding will now be met by the Exchequer to ensure all authorities receive, at a minimum, an amount equivalent to their baseline. Local authorities may also vary their local property tax rates by up to 15%. Authorities that increase the rate retain 100% of the additional income. Galway County Council will receive €155,561 in local property tax equalisation funding for 2023 in addition to the expected €14.3 million LPT yield to achieve a baseline funding level of €14.5 million.

We secured an additional one-off allocation of €2.75 million for Galway County Council for 2023 in recognition of the current financial challenges facing the authority, plus the additional €1.75 million in supplementary support in recognition of the increasing costs of service provision. This brings the total additional support for Galway County Council to €12.8 million for 2023, which is a considerable contribution from central government that should assist the authority in the challenging year ahead.

As I said, I had a number of meetings with Galway County Council and with my colleagues, Deputy Cannon and Senators Kyne and Dolan, regarding to the additional funding. The €12.8 million is a very strong contribution to the local authority in additional funding for 2023. My door is always open to further engagement with the local authority.

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