Government intervention sought after cut to Athy funding 

ATHY councillors Mark Leigh and Brian Dooley have sought government intervention after the district’s Local Property Tax (LPT) allocation was cut.

The Municipal District’s annual allocation will fall by approximately €217,000, according to the councillors.

It was decided at June’s full Kildare County Council meeting that both Athy and Naas Municipal Districts would see their LPT funding cut.

The largest reduction applied to Athy Municipal District, which has the fewest councillors on the local authority.

Under the revised allocation adopted by councillors, municipal districts with more elected members receive a larger share of LPT funding.

The Athy Municipal District will receive around €750,000 in LPT for 2027 and onwards, down from around €960,000 in 2026.

Athy councillors opposed the move but were outvoted at the full council meeting.

Athy councillors Mark Leigh and Brian Dooley had both written to Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage James Browne regarding the matter. Neither had received a response when speaking to the Kildare Nationalist recently.

Cllr Dooley told the Kildare Nationalist that his Fianna Fáil colleague, Kildare South TD Seán Ó Fearghaíl, is going to raise the matter as a parliamentary question in the Dáil.

In his letter to the Minister, cllr Dooley raised concerns about the council’s decision to allocate LPT funding based on the number of councillors in each Municipal District rather than on measures of need.

He argued that the new model disproportionately disadvantages Athy despite the district facing significant socioeconomic challenges and extensive infrastructure demands, including a large road network.

Cllr Dooley called on the department to examine the rationale behind the change and whether factors such as deprivation, population needs and infrastructure requirements were considered.

He also asked the Minister to consider guidance on the fair allocation of discretionary LPT funding and to clarify whether such decisions can be reviewed where concerns arise about equity and need.

He expanded on this while speaking to the Kildare Nationalist.

“If you have an area that is classified as being high employment, house prices are good, increased number of professionals living in the area. They're not dealing with social deprivation, they're not dealing with unemployment, they're not dealing with whatever issues are in a place maybe that is dealing with those issues … you have to be very objective, I think in, how you fund these things.

“It should be analysed not just through the mirror of the number of councillors, but we also should be bringing in reports from the likes of the CSO. We should be bringing in reports from the likes of Pobal”.

He also said that the Athy Municipal District has a larger road network than other districts, and that a portion of LPT would ordinarily be allocated to the roads department for works in the area.

The councillor added that he does not believe that the LPT cut was “done in an underhanded manner or anything like that. It was done very democratically”.

Cllr Dooley said that the Athy area will be receiving €1.5 million over the next five years from the SÍOL programme, which he believes will help offset the deficit caused by the LPT funding cut.

The programme is a government initiative launched by the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht to invest €31.5 million by 2030 in urban areas facing high levels of disadvantage.

The Fianna Fáil councillor further detailed that the municipal district had been exploring the use of LPT to fund the redevelopment of the area between Woodstock Street and Shrewleen Lane in Athy. He said the SÍOL funding may be used for that project.

The municipal district’s leas-chathaoirleach refrained from criticising the councillors who voted in favour of the cut to Athy’s funding.

He said: “You can look at it from two angles. Obviously, we didn't want to see our funding cut. But I'm sure the other councillors who were on a par with us for years are saying, well, we have bigger areas or bigger populations or more members.” 

Another point that cllr Dooley stressed was that the Athy councillors work well together and have been effective in managing financial resources, allowing them to support projects such as the sports project at Ardrew.

“We've close to about a million in funding put away there in a kitty to support that. At the end of the day, it's because we work well together, it's because we've kind of safeguarded the money we have and used it in the best manner we could. It just means we have to tighten the purse strings on a few things.” 

Cllr Leigh struck a concerned tone regarding the future funding of projects in the municipal district, saying that some projects may now be at risk. He expressed his disappointment at the decision made by other councillors.

“I’ll go on the record in saying that I'm very, very disappointed with all the other councillors that voted against us. (There were) 19 votes to keep us as is. 20/21 voted against, which meant we lost the vote. Unfortunately - I know they (councillors from other districts) have to look after their own area - but it really, really will affect Athy”.

“We have the largest rural area and probably the largest land area of any municipal district. To be honest, we were underfunded for years and years and years, and we're only starting to get things done properly in Athy at the moment.

“So this is like a little bit of a blow to us at the moment. Now I know they're saying that we could probably get the funding from elsewhere and there's other tracks of funding, but there's nothing becoming apparent at the moment.” 

He said that the municipal district has been left “in a bit of limbo” as council officials have yet to identify measures to offset the loss. 

He cites sports funding as one potential casualty, along with projects to be pursued by area engineer Kevin Dunne.

He also credited the Fianna Fáil councillors from the municipal district, cllrs Dooley and Behan, for voting “against their party on the day”.

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme