Minister for Disability and Fianna Fáil TD for Galway East, Anne Rabbitte, has welcomed an increased allocation of over €5.7 million in funding being provided to Galway County Council by Government, as approved by Cabinet today, Wednesday 6th September.
The announcement comes as part of a national increase of €75.4m in Local Property Tax (LPT) baseline funding to Local Authorities – bringing the total to €428.4m in 2024 – following a review of how the money is allocated.
For Galway County Council, this means the baseline is increasing from €14,517,890 in 2023 to €20,309,071 in 2024, which is an increase of 5,791,180.
Every local authority receives a minimum (’baseline’) amount of funding from the Local Property Tax, supplemented by funding from the exchequer where a local authority’s LPT income is lower than its baseline.
This baseline funding is essential and recognises the essential role played by local authorities, not only in delivering a broad range of services day-to-day, but also in successfully leading the local response to emergency situations; such as sector’s establishment of Community Call during Covid-19, and more recently the community response fora to support the Ukrainian crisis.
Minister Rabbitte said
This increase in funding to Galway County Council is very welcome news. I have consistently been raising with my party colleague, Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien, that more funding is needed in Galway to ensure the local authority has the money it needs to get work done around the county.
Galway County Council does such important work in towns and villages across Galway and I’ve always felt that the Local Authority wasn’t getting its fair share so this uplift of €5.7 million helps bridge that gap.
Indeed, it’s interesting to see that this increased allocation is one of the largest across all Local Authorities.
and she continued:
Today was the Cabinet’s first day back around the table after the summer break and I’m glad this item was one of the first to get sorted as it’s important for Councils to know what’s coming their way in the months ahead so they can plan accordingly.
and she concluded:
Local Authorities play an integral role in the delivery of services to our citizens.
Local authorities face growing challenges due to the increase in demand for services and the growing cost of providing these.
This significant increase in funding should go a long way towards easing the pressure on the sector.
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