Galway County Council has been awarded an interim funding boost of €600,000 while the council’s long term-financing is being looked into.
Galway East TD Ciarán Cannon said that he was informed of the interim funding by Minister of State for Local Government Peter Burke, who also said that a review will be carried out of the council’s funding model.
The funding level for the county council has long been a hotly contested issue, with arguments that it is chronically underfunded compared with other counties.
During the five municipal district meetings recently, all five groups of local councillors voted to reject the proposed budget.
This leaves only the full budget meeting next Monday, where the council as a whole will have to decide whether to accept the €40 million budget while this review is awaited, or reject and send it back.
It had previously been threatened that rejecting the budget could result in the council being sacked.
Ciaran Cannon said that the review of funding for Galway County Council is expected to be completed within the next four months.
“We will then see action to address the unfair funding deficit that continues to undermine our local authority.
