The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O’Brien TD announced a €75.4m increase in Local Property Tax (LPT) baseline funding to Local Authorities – bringing the total to €428.4m in 2024 – following a review of how the money is allocated.
Every local authority receives a minimum (’baseline’) amount of funding from the Local Property Tax, supplemented by funding from the exchequer where a local authority’s LPT income is lower than its baseline. This baseline funding is essential and recognises the essential role played by local authorities, not only in delivering a broad range of services day-to-day, but also in successfully leading the local response to emergency situations; such as sector’s establishment of Community Call during Covid-19, and more recently the community response fora to support the Ukrainian crisis.
Minister O’Brien TD, said, “Local Authorities play an integral role in the delivery of services to our citizens. I am aware of the growing challenges faced by local authorities due to the increase in demand for services and the growing cost of providing these. This significant increase in funding should go a long way towards easing the pressure on the sector.”
“Since 2020 I have been committed to a review of the baseline funding of local authorities and I established a working group earlier this year to examine the issue. I am pleased to announce that this funding has been guided by the review that has taken place and the recommendations of the working group.”
Kieran O’Donnell, Minister of State for Local Government and Planning, welcomed the completion of the review of Local Property Tax baselines, noting the important work completed by the review group, which included elected local representatives, to inform the final model.
Minister O’Donnell said, “I would like to thank the Working Group for all their work on assisting our review of how we provide baseline funding. This increase in allocations reflects the importance of the work that local authorities do, which I see for myself as I visit and meet with Councillors across the country.”
