Seán Kyne (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter. I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, to the House. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, has recently engaged with councillors on a cross-party basis on the issue of funding for Galway County Council. Obviously, they are better placed than I am to put forward the case. As I understand it, the amalgamation of the city and county councils is off the table, so there is no point in talking about the merits or demerits of that.

Funding of Galway County Council has been an issue for some time but, particularly, since the economic crash of 2008-2009. Realistically, however, it has been an issue for more than 20 years, particularly in comparison with other local authorities. If one looks at the tables of funding going back to 1999, there has been an anomaly in relation to funding for Galway County Council.

Galway County Council has a low rates base, as the city is in a separate authority, and pulls in so much investment. Compared with Mayo, which has large towns such as Castlebar, Westport and Ballina, we have much smaller towns with a lower rates base. Similarly, Shannon and Ennis in Clare are drivers while in Kerry, Killarney and Tralee are good drivers of the economy and provide a good rates base. The budget of Galway County Council in 2021 is €136.5 million. In comparison, Mayo's budget is €159 million, Kerry's is €168 million and Tipperary's is €185 million. I certainly do not begrudge any other local authority what they receive or what they are able to generate but the truth is that Galway has not got the capacity to grow its rates, in particular, because of the influence of the city.

In regard to staffing in Galway, according to the 2009 figures, Galway County Council had 767 staff, Mayo had 1,000, Kerry had 1,153 and Tipperary had 1,034. Clearly, in terms of funding, and the consequence of that, which is staffing, Galway County Council is at a lower level than other comparative local authorities. That has an impact on the provision of services. It is totally unsustainable and it cannot continue in this fashion.

The councillors, in fairness, were the first to increase the local property tax to try to fund a shortfall. They got no thanks for that from the Department. Indeed, the Department ignored the gesture. It did not look at providing any additional funding. In fact, the Department has starved Galway for more than 20 years. The carrot of improved funding that would come with amalgamation was dangled, but even with that, there was no clear indication of additional funding.

The position of chief executive officer was left unfilled for seven years. For seven years, there was an acting CEO in Galway. I take responsibility in that regard. We were in government for that period, but that was position was left unfilled. Would the position of Secretary General or assistant secretary general in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage be left unfilled for seven years? I do not think so. It would not be left unfilled for seven weeks.

Clearly, there have been certain issues and anomalies regarding the funding of Galway County Council. When we approached officials in the Department - again on a cross-party basis - a number of years ago, there was an admission that Galway had been badly served for a long number of years in comparison to similar local authorities, some of which are our near neighbours. However, there has been no resolution to that. There has been no additional funding. The then Minister of State, Deputy John Paul Phelan, provided an extra, I think, €1 million, which eventually came through, based on issues surrounding the municipal districts, to try to improve the situation.

We have a stark situation in Galway. The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan's officials have been aware of this matter for a long number of years and yet nothing has been provided for Galway. I look forward to the Minister of State's reply.