Local Authorities
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-22
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Kieran O'Donnell (FG), Limerick City

By way of information and to be consistent, I will give Deputy Ó Murchú an indication of the funding for Louth. He did not ask this specifically, but I want it to be consistent with the information for Sligo. During 2025, my Department considered and approved an additional funding allocation of €150,000 for Louth County Council, bringing its total allocation to €2.8 million for 2025. Louth County Council drew down this allocation in full. The total funding drawdowns by local authorities will be available on my Department's website shortly.
I say to Deputy Scanlon that there were two requests for additional funding from Sligo County Council. They were both approved and the full amounts on both occasions were spent. Some local authorities are not spending their full allocation. That is something I am conscious of. We look to redistribute to local authorities that are spending. Louth and Sligo both fall into that category.
The scheme announced in December made many changes. We increased the income and the grant limits. We brought in increased allowances. I was directly involved in it myself. At the time, I was no longer the Minister of State with responsibility for local government, but I worked on it with officials prior to that point. I, like everyone else, recognise it is hugely important. The disabled persons' grant has been increased to €40,000. The Deputy might provide detail on the specific individual cases and we may be able follow up on those. The core point is that we have increased the funding. There is a 30% increase this year. The contribution from local authorities has gone from 20% to 15%, which means the contribution from the local authorities has gone down, but the State is contributing that directly. This is a hugely important grant scheme and something the Government has prioritised. The allocation for 2026 is €130 million, which will assist 17,000 people.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:32+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-22