Councils penalised over county Household Charge figures

The Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan has been criticised for punishing Local Authorities, including Sligo County Council (SCC) and Leitrim County Council (LCC) by cutting budgets linked to their success in collecting the Household Charges.

Leitrim's Fianna Fáil Senator Paschal Mooney said, “The Minister is using Local Authorities as a scape goat for his own failures in introducing a charge that raises issued of fairness and equity.”

Sligo County Council will see its budget cut by €1.3m and for a Council already in severe deficit the story for the people of Sligo is equally disastrous as the Local Authority will have to cut essential services also with immediate effect. The council is already in crisis talks as it tries to come to terms with it current debt of over €77m.

The newly elected Cathairleach of SCC, Cllr Veronica Cawley told SligoToday.ie, "There has already been a cut of over €500k in this year's funding in comparison to last year's Local Government Allocation Fund's contribution. Given the dire financial situation the council finds itself in any further potential cuts could lead to the complete cessation of services and would have implications for health and safety."

Senator Mooney pictured left said, “Leitrim County Council has been instructed to cut €1.65mil from their budget, 25 per cent of which is with immediate effect, the remainder may go following a review in September” stated Senator Mooney. “For a county like Leitrim this is a severe blow and will impact immediately right across the range of services provided to the public by Leitrim County Council.

"As the county relies on 30 per cent of its total allocation annually of €11.8 mil and only 11 per cent derived from Commercial Rates, the people of Leitrim are facing a bleak future in accessing services that they had taken for granted and will now disappear” he continued. “ Leitrim has a compliance rate of 61 per cent of those who paid the Household Charge and the situation in Sligo is equally dire.”

“I am calling on the Minister to break the link between compliance and budget allocation and look for the money elsewhere. I hope the people of Leitrim and Sligo will remember this savage act when they cast their Vote in the Local Elections” concluded Senator Mooney.