Noel Grealish (Galway West, Independent)
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451. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of Motor Tax collected in counties Galway and Mayo; the amount of money retained and the amount returned to each county and how the remaining balance received from these counties was spent in 2014 and 2015; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1994/16]

Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)
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All Motor Tax income accrues to the Local Government Fund. The Minister for Finance also pays an amount equivalent to the Local Property Tax that was collected in the particular year, from the Central Fund to the Local Government Fund. Local Property Tax (LPT) was introduced in 2013 to provide an alternative, stable and sustainable funding base for local authorities, providing greater levels of connection between local revenue raising and associated expenditure decisions. Given that local authorities vary significantly from one another in terms of size, population, public service demands, infrastructure and income sources, the Government decided that no local authority would receive less allocation from LPT in 2015 than they received from General Purpose Grants in 2014. Under the process known as equalisation, 80% of LPT is retained locally and the remaining 20% is re-distributed to provide top-up funding to certain local authority areas that have lower property tax bases due to the variance in property values across the State. Ultimately, all LPT proceeds are re-distributed to local authorities.

Based on its shortfall position when expected 2015 LPT receipts are compared to GPG Allocations 2014, Galway County Council and Mayo County Council were in receipt of equalisation funding in 2015. The table below shows the 2015 LPT allocations for Galway City, Galway County and Mayo County Councils.

Apart from its role as a vehicle for distributing LPT proceeds, the other income accruing to the Local Government Fund, including the proceeds of Motor Tax, is used for a range of purposes, including to provide funding to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport for onwards allocation in support of local authority roads and public transport infrastructure, and for supports for miscellaneous local authority related schemes such as rural group water schemes and shared services initiatives.

Gross motor tax receipts (including online receipts) for Galway City and County and Mayo in 2014 and 2015 were as follows:

The overall allocation from my Department from the Local Government Fund to Galway City, Galway County and Mayo in 2014 and 2015 is set out in the table below.

As the Local Government Fund also provides funding to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, the local authorities concerned will have received further funding from that Department for the support of local authority roads and public transport infrastructure in 2014 and 2015, details of which are a matter for my colleague, the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport.