State Bodies
Dail Éireann — 2026-06-23
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Louis O'Hara (SF), Galway East

Galway County Council has been underfunded for years, and the figures are stark. Galway County Council receives €1,051 per person, while the average across the State is €1,534. If Galway County Council was receiving that State average, its annual budget would increase from €203 million to €296 million, an increase of almost 50%.
It is undeniable that we are not receiving our fair share in County Galway. This has an enormous impact on all of the services which are provided by the council, whether roads, environment, recreation, community facilities and especially housing, where we have serious issues in maintenance, homeless services, voids and much more. This underfunding means that key projects like Dunguaire Castle and the Craughwell wastewater upgrade are being left in limbo because the council cannot provide for them from its own resources. One of the most frustrating aspects of this is that we have never received any good reason or explanation from Government as to why Galway does not receive its fair share. I have asked parliamentary questions repeatedly, but the Department still will not disclose the formula as to how it is calculating the funding for local authorities and why Galway is losing out. That is not good enough. It is a serious lack of transparency. Why, Minister, does Galway lag so far behind other counties, and when will the Government rectify this unfairness?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-06-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:06+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-06-23