Dissolution on the cards for County Council?

The clock is ticking for Cork County Council which has less than two weeks to draft an adjusted budget or face possible dissolution.

The two week fuse was lit yesterday when, after a five and a half hour meeting, councillors failed to pass a budget for 2027.

As has been the case for previous budgets, a proposed increase to commercial rates was the sticking point yesterday with the executive initially tabling an 8% increase.

Following the presentation of the draft budget, Mayor of the County of Cork and Fianna Fáil councillor Bernard Moynihan immediately proposed an amendment that would see the rates increase drop to 7.5%.

Despite the adjustment, members of Fine Gael, Aontú, Independent Ireland, Labour, Sinn Féin, and Social Democrats voted against the passing of the budget, along with one independent councillor.

The overall vote was 24 for and 30 against with one councillor abstaining.

Following the vote, a number of Fianna Fáil councillors asked that one of the 30 who voted against the budget would present an alternative for consideration.

A visibly frustrated councillor Ann Marie Ahern (FF) said: “Could somebody that voted against this budget today please for the love of God come up with an alternative, so that we can sit here and go back to doing our jobs that we were elected to do.

“If we don’t have funding, we’re not operational and we’re handing all the power back to the very Government that we’re all sitting here giving out to today."

After the last of several lengthy breaks, during which CEO Moira Murrell said she was “seeking legal advice”, it was agreed that councillors would meet again at 11am tomorrow (Wednesday) to discuss an alternative budget proposal.

If members again fail to agree on a proposal and do not get one over the line within 14 days of Monday’s original proposal, the council faces possible dissolution and control being handed over to government administrators.