Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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644. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government if he is aware that the members of Sligo County Council, by majority vote on 8 June 2015, resolved to provide funding of €55,000 per annum to Ireland West Airport Knock over a 30 year period, in accordance with a memorandum of understanding with Mayo County Council and subject to Sligo County Council's five year financial plan being agreed with his Department; that when a request for a copy of the memorandum of understanding was made at the Sligo County Council meeting the elected representatives were informed by the council executive that no memorandum of understanding existed; if Sligo County Council requires approval from his Department to commit to funding the airport over a 30 year period; if his Department will approve such a decision given that no memorandum of understanding exists; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26370/15]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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It is a matter for each local authority 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 includes adopting the annual budget, and are democratically accountable for all expenditure by the local authority.

The Local Government Act 2001 (s106) requires borrowings by a local authority to be sanctioned by the "appropriate Minister". The role of my Department in the loan application sanctioning process is primarily to provide the lead Department, in this case the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, with observations on the suitability of sanctioning the loan from a General Government Balance and a financial and affordability perspective. This includes an examination of the ability of the authority to service the new debt without impacting on the provision of services the authority are bound to provide. In the case of Sligo County Council, the agreement of a financial plan to address the serious issues surrounding the continued deterioration of the authority’s financial position would be an important factor in this financial assessment.