Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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932. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he is aware that Sligo County Council submitted a new five-year financial plan to his Department on 29 April 2015; that the financial plan indicates that Sligo County Council has borrowings of in excess of €23 million, which it is only capable of paying the interest on; that the Council has had a deficit in its revenue account in each of the years 2008 to 2014; that the Council’s cumulative deficit now stands at over €26 million with long-term debt in excess of €120 million; that Knock Airport in County Mayo has current debts of approximately €9 million; that the chief executive of Sligo County Council has recommended that the Council provide financial assistance of approximately €1.6 million to Knock Airport; if his Department has considered the contents of the Council’s new financial plans. [19945/15]

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 to address these issues. My Department received a financial plan on 29 April and is considering its contents in consultation with the Council.