Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Deputy Leader to request the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, as Cabinet Minister responsible for local government, to come before the House to engage with Senators on local government funding. As we know, especially those of us who are former councillors, local authorities are invariably under financial pressure, but this year the pressure has increased exponentially. The councils will be under pressure in a number of areas, not just for the remainder of this year but also for 2021, including housing rental income reviews; planning fee drops; fewer parking fines and charges, resulting in lesser income; fewer recreation and amenity facility charges; reduced use of council facilities, resulting in fewer charges being available; a drop in non-principal private residence, NPPR, income; a predicted drop in fire charges; a likely increase in uncollectable rates; an increase in bad debt provisioning; and an increase in Covid-related expenditure. Without Government intervention, quarter 4 cuts across our local authorities are inevitable. For 2021, the County and City Management Association projects that the average cut in non-payroll expenditure to achieve a balanced budget could be in the order of 30%. This will impact on the core responsibilities and services local authorities provide. Councils will be unable to make provision for capital projects from revenue budgets. The impact could be on shovel-ready projects, and local authorities are seeking urgent help to meet the challenges they face. The CCMA projects that the total negative impact on the current year of Covid will be €168 million, and the total negative impact in 2021 is projected to be €367 million. Some local authorities, particularly those that have a high reliance on tourism, whether in Galway, Clare, Mayo or elsewhere along the west coast, could be under even more financial pressure. I therefore ask the Deputy Leader to request a debate on local government funding as soon as possible.