Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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270. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the fact that his Department set aside an allocation of €1 million in additional funding for Sligo County Council in 2014, conditional on a financial plan being agreed between his Department and the council by the end of February 2014; that the draft financial plan was submitted by the council to his Department on 24 November 2014, with a further draft being submitted in December 2014; that his Department would not release the additional €1 million to the council in 2014 because of the failure of the council management to submit a sustainable financial plan within the timeframe allowed by his Department, and that his Department therefore decided to release only €250,000 additional funding to the council in 2014; if he will provide the council with the balance of €750,000 for 2014 when a plan is agreed; if an additional allocation of €1 million funding will be set aside for 2015 to assist the council move to a more sustainable financial position; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10992/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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It is a matter for each local authority, including Sligo County Council, to determine its own spending priorities in the context of the annual budgetary process having regard to both locally identified needs and available resources. The elected members of a local authority have direct responsibility in law for all reserved functions of the authority, which include adopting the annual budget and authorising borrowing, and are democratically accountable for all expenditure by the local authority.

The continued deterioration of Sligo County Council’s financial position is of serious concern to me. While it is a matter for individual local authorities to manage their own day-to-day finances in a prudent and sustainable manner, my Department is in regular consultation with the Council in relation to its financial position, including in relation to the agreement of a long term financial plan; this process is ongoing.

€1m of the general purpose grant allocation to Sligo County Council for 2014 was conditional on a realistic and achievable plan which charts a path to long-term financial sustainability being agreed between my Department and the Council. Following a meeting with my Department on 27 March 2014, wherein a draft financial plan was submitted, it was decided to provide Sligo County Council with €250,000 of this €1m. In the absence of a detailed plan being finally agreed before the end of 2014 no further payment was made to Sligo.

A similar amount of €1m has been included in the 2015 Local Property Tax allocation to Sligo County Council. Payment of this remains conditional on the plan being agreed and discussions with the Council, in this context, are ongoing.