Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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453. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the per capita central Government funding of local authorities ratio for each county in the State. [25583/14]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I assume that the Question refers to general purpose grants from the Local Government Fund. General purpose grants are a contribution from my Department towards meeting the cost to local authorities of providing a reasonable level of services to their customers.

The information requested is set out in the table below which details the total general purpose grant allocations in 2014 from the Local Government Fund for all local authorities in each county. The amount to be paid to local authorities from the Local Government Fund for general purpose grants in 2014 is €28 2m; this figure recognises the removal of water related costs from local authorities to Irish Water in 2014.

Local authorities’ cost and income bases vary significantly from one another and calculating an appropriate distribution of these grants is complex. General purpose grants are structured to bring about equalisation over time; that is a position of balance where the financial needs of local authorities are met by their resources and they are able to provide an appropriate level of service to their customers. In determining these grants a number of factors are taken into account including the overall funding available for this purpose, the estimated cost to each authority of providing a reasonable level of services to their customers, the income each authority should generate from local sources and the necessity to provide each authority with a baseline allocation that supports its financial stability.