Analysis: If you're in Galway, there's a spend of €586 per person on housing, while Kildare spends just €99 per head on environmental services
By Ger Turley and Stephen McNena, University of Galway
Unlike general elections which are contests on the big national issues, local elections by their nature are about local issues that affect people in their daily lives. From a local public finance perspective, the purpose of local elections is to decide what taxes should be imposed, on whom or what, and how they should be spent.
Municipalities worldwide usually rely on some form of a property tax as it is considered an ideal local tax. Local authorities in Ireland are no different, as they levy rates on commercial properties and the local property tax (LPT) on residential properties. Their other sources of revenue are charges and fees on certain local services - such as rents, planning fees and parking charges - and grants from central government.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne, Katie Clair from Revenue's Local Property Tax on Irish property valuations for the purposes of the Local Property Tax
These income sources fund spending on local public services. Although local government functions are limited in Ireland by a highly centralised system of national government, it still involves an important set of local services, including provision of social housing and homeless services, local and regional roads, planning and tourism development, fire and library services, parks and playgrounds, supports to local enterprises and community development.
Ireland's 31 local authorities’ income and spending profiles differ, depending on local circumstances, expenditure needs and fiscal resources, and political choices. Annually, the income and spending decisions are reflected in the council budgets. To inform voters on how councils spend taxpayers’ money, the Local Authority Finances website reports the annual budgetary data disaggregated by council, spending on services, and sources of income.
Here is a summary of the 2024 local authority spend, using the main programme areas reported in the council budgets. For housing, including homeless services, traveller accommodation, and spending on the local authority housing stock and housing supports, the spend per person ranges from €586 in Galway City Council to €132 in Roscommon County Council. This excludes Limerick City & County Council and Dublin City Council because of shared service arrangements.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland in October 2023, Michael Doyle from Kilkenny County Council on how the council are dealing with flooding in the village of Inistioge
On road transportation and safety, the two councils with the biggest spend per resident are Leitrim County Council (€497) and Longford County Council (€447). The two councils with the lowest spend per resident are South Dublin County Council (€135) and Fingal County Council (€131).
On development management that includes planning, enterprise supports, and tourism promotion, the range is from €350 by Clare County Council to €85 per person by Galway County Council. For environmental services, including street cleaning, the fire service, and measures on climate change and flooding, outside of Dublin, Tipperary County Council spends €313 per resident. At the other end of the scale, Kildare County Council spends €99 per resident.
Recreation and amenities includes leisure facilities, library services, and supports to community sports and Arts programmes. Here, Galway City Council spends €246 per head whereas both Meath County Council and Galway County Council spend only €57 per head.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Today with Claire Byrne show, reporter Brian O'Connell travels on Cork's mobile library
Whether urban versus rural, large versus small, own source income-rich versus central government grant-dependent, with rapidly growing populations versus those with low to moderate population growth, the difference between councils is best illustrated by an example. In 2024, Cork City Council plans to spend, €441 per person on housing, €252 on roads, €91 on development management, €218 on environmental services and €141 on recreation and amenities.
In contrast, Mayo County Council's estimated expenditure per person is €234 on housing, €436 on roads, €158 on development management, €181 on environmental services, and €124 on recreation and amenities. Expressed as a percentage of total expenditure, Cork City Council spends an estimated 34% on housing and 19% on roads, while Mayo County Council spends an estimated 16% on housing and 30% on roads.
Although the respective shares differ, these local public services in all cases are financed by a combination of central government grants and own-source revenues, namely local taxes and charges. In general, the urban councils rely relatively more on income from own-source revenues whereas the small rural councils depend more on central government grants.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland in December 2022, Padraig Barrett from Cork County Council discusses the opening of the new Macroom bypass.
For example, South Dublin County Council’s breakdown of revenue shares is 43% from rates, 3% from LPT, 20% from charges, and 34% from central government grants. For Monaghan County Council, the shares are 17% from rates, 15% from LPT (that includes an equalisation payment), 15% from charges, and 53% from central government grants.
Developed for the public good by economics lecturers at the University of Galway, the Local Authority Finances website is a useful source for taxpayers, users of public services and the electorate. You can find your local authority and discover the spend per person on the different services, and the respective sources of income. You can also compare your local council’s spend with other councils’ spend, as a way of identifying value for money, underfunding, or overspending.
When prospective councillors come knocking for your vote, you can use the website to discern which candidate best reflects your preference for the mix of tax and spend, and ultimately deserves your vote.
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Dr Ger Turley is a lecturer at the J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics at the University of Galway. He is the co-manager of the Local Authority Finances website. Stephen McNena is a lecturer in Economics at the J.E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics and Whitaker Institute at the University of Galway.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
