Council giving millions to other counties

“We cannot wait for another budget to hand over €8 million of this county's taxpayer’s money.”

That’s according to Independent Carrigaline Cllr Ben Dalton O'Sullivan who believes all property tax collected in Cork county should stay in the county.

Cllr Dalton O'Sullivan spearheaded a motion this week demanding that Cork be allowed to keep 100 per cent of property tax raised within the local authority.

Currently, the council pays 20 per cent (€8 million) of its collected property tax every year to other, smaller local authorities under the Government’s Property Equalisation Fund. The councillor’s comments came after a recent report showed that Cork county is not getting its fair share of Government funding which was brought to the attention of An Taoiseach Micheál Martin TD in the Dáil earlier this month.

An Taoiseach, at the time, said he hadn’t seen the report and that he did not “buy it”, stating that a local authority can “commission reports to get the outcomes that they might want”.

The independent report, carried out by the All Island Research Observatory (AIRO) in Maynooth University, outlined a number of areas in which Government funding in Cork county is falling short.

“County Cork is not getting a fair deal in national budgets, and to top this off, we now have a property tax system whereby from every €100 in property tax collected from Cork taxpayers, €20 immediately goes to subsidize other counties.

This is no longer acceptable,” said Cllr Dalton O'Sullivan. A special meeting between Cork County Council and Oireachtas members will take place tomorrow, Friday, at which Cllr Dalton O'Sullivan said a financial settlement for Cork county must be put forward in light of the report.

“We owe this to the people we represent, to fight for this €8 million and much more besides,” he said.

The report showed that Cork has the fourth lowest LEADER programme funding in the country and has received one-fifth of what Clare has received under rural regeneration funding.

It also stated that Cork receives the lowest CLÁR programme funding of any local authority and that it will take up to 52 years and €750 million for all of Cork county’s roads to be brought up to standard.

Speaking on Monday, Mayor of the County of Cork Cllr Mary Linehan Foley said she was unsure if the Taoiseach had received the report when he made his comments in the Dáil on 2 June.

“I can't understand the Taoiseach's comments myself. These are the facts and the facts have been there for a number of years. This is nothing new and he would be well aware of it, coming from Cork,” she said.

Independent West Cork Cllr Danny Collins, whose name was also on the motion, invited the Taoiseach to attend tomorrow’s meeting.