Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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248. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the total debts of each local authority to date, in tabular form. [19449/16]

Barry Cowen (Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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249. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to identify and address unsustainable debt problems in each local authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19450/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 248 and 249 together.

It is a matter for each local authority to manage its own finances in a prudent and sustainable manner. Under the Local Government Act 2001, a decision to borrow money is a reserved function of the elected members of a local authority. Section 106 of the Act provides that, in order to undertake borrowing, local authorities must obtain the sanction of the appropriate Minister. Local authorities applying to my Department for loan sanction are required, as a pre-condition to borrowing, to ensure that they achieve balanced revenue and capital accounts and to demonstrate how the loan will be serviced by the authority. My Department has not classified the borrowings of any local authority as unsustainable nor has any authority indicated to my Department that they believe their borrowings to be unsustainable.

The total loans payable by each local authority at end 2014 based on audited Annual Financial Statements are as follows: