Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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1092.To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the direct State funding other than the local property tax which each local authority received for each of the past ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32120/24]

Alan Dillon (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Local authorities are entirely independent corporate entities having full responsibility under law for the performance of their functions and the discharge of their governance and other responsibilities. Local authorities provide in excess of 1,000 services on behalf of over 30 public bodies. Accordingly, the funding system that applies to local authorities in Ireland is a complex one, as those authorities derive their income from a variety of sources including commercial rates, charges for goods and services and funding from Central Government.

Central Government funding of local authorities similarly presents a complex picture, with transfers, both current and capital, coming from a wide range of Departments and Offices for a variety of purposes. Some streams of funding are delivered directly from funding departments to local authorities, while others are routed through departmental agencies. Most of the funding sourced from Central Government and provided to local authorities must be used for specified services. These can be grouped into 5 broad programme categories: recreational, education, environment, housing and transport.

Information on funding provided by Central Government to local authorities for the relevant years, up to 2022, is contained in the Report on the Accounts of the Public Services: Central Funding of Local Authorities published by the Comptroller and Auditor General, which is available at the following link: .

Further information on income from grants and subsidies is published annually by local authorities in their Annual Financial Statements (AFS), and generally can be found on their respective websites. My Department publishes a consolidated AFS publication compiled from the Audited Financial Statements produced by each local authority and this can be found on my Department’s website at the following link: . The 2023 Report is currently being drafted, and therefore is not yet publicly available.