Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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233. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he is aware that his Department set aside an allocation of €1 million in additional funding for Sligo County Council in 2014, conditional on a realistic financial plan being agreed between his Department and the council by the end of 2014; that the Department decided to provide only €250,000 of the €1 million to the council, and that in the absence of a detailed plan being agreed before the end of 2014, no further payment was made to the council; if there are ongoing negotiations between his Department and the council in respect of the remaining €750,000; if the decision not to pay the €750,000 to the council is final or if will his Department will reconsider the matter, if a realistic financial plan is submitted to it; if consideration will be given to adding the €750,000 to the extra €1 million allocation set aside for 2015, if a realistic and achievable financial plan is agreed to; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12365/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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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.

I have set aside an allocation of €1millionin additional funding for 2015 for Sligo County Council to assist it to take the steps necessary to move to a more sustainable financial position. Sligo County Council received an additional €250,000 in 2014 for these purposes but, as the long term financial plan was not finalised last year, I was not in a position to pay the remaining €750,000 that had been set aside in 2014. The payment of additional funding for 2015 remains fully conditional on a realistic and achievable financial plan, which charts a path to long term financial sustainability, being agreed between my Department and the Council; this process is on-going.