Galway ‘left on the back foot’ for council funding
Matter of urgency
SEVERAL Councillors have said Galway County Council is lacking when it comes to matters such as road maintenance because of underfunding.
In a wide-ranging discussion at last week’s Ballinasloe MDC meeting that covered a number of issues related to the local authority, Moylough Cllr Michael Connolly referenced the poor return that Galway County Council receives from the Equalisation Fund in light of the amount of Local Property Tax (LPT) collected from people in the county.
“We’re lagging for so long as a county. People that pay their LPT expect that roads would be looked after, but that’s not the case,” offered the Fianna Fáil Cllr.
“Galway gets €3 to €4million back through the Equalisation Fund. Comparative counties like Mayo County Council get between €10 to €13million, Tipperary gets around €19million and Donegal gets €21million, and we collected more LPT than them.
“We’ve suffered in the past 10 to 11 years on that. These problems have to be called out as a matter of urgency before our budget. I’m saying it as it is. I’m not playing politics.”
Cllr Declan Geraghty said that road maintenance was not just an issue in County Galway, but in other counties in the west of Ireland.
“Galway County Council has been neglected and it’s not fair. Galway is lacking in services and lacking big time in roads,” said the Independent Ireland Cllr.
“Money is being squandered left, right and centre. Take any county in the West and look at the state of some of the roads. There’s no tar on some of them, there’s weeds growing up through the middle of them.
“Never before has there been as many representatives from Galway as regards Ministers and Galway County Council is still left on the back foot.
“We had a Minister in here a few months ago who told us that he’d given €200,000 to each council in the country for drainage works. It was a load of waffle. The majority of it is tied up in red tape. We should have challenged him on it, but we all bowed down and said thank you very much.
“Look at the turlough in Glenamaddy, no works have been done there. Look at Ballyforan and the drainage of the River Suck. It’s a shame because it’s the people of Galway that are losing out.
“We have no problem with the staff in the County Council. Our problem is with the funding that we’re getting.”
Cllr Peter Keaveney said that allocating funding of €200,000 for drainage works to councils was a “token” gesture.
“You wouldn’t even get a report done for that,” remarked the Glenamaddy Cllr.
“It is disappointing. The price of oil is over $100/barrel and they’re saying it could go to $150/barrel. We do need more funding, like my colleagues have said.”
Senior roads engineer with the local authority Conrad Harley said that County Council staff members have completed a lot of work on roads in the county during 2026.
“It’s about managing the funding we have. We’re doing a damn good job at that. The budgets are being tightened with the increase in oil prices. We don’t know where we’re going next year,” said Mr Harley.