West Cork councillors reject draft budget which is lower than last year's

Councillors in Cork County Council’s West Cork Municipal District have rejected the 2026 draft budgetary plan for the area that was presented to members at a special meeting held in Dunmanway.

The draft budget drew criticism from some members for allocating a lower total amount of funding than the 2025 budget although councillors were told that revenue raised from the 5% increase in Local Property Tax (LPT) would be ring-fenced for capital projects.

Municipal district officer Eimear O’Neill said: “Rising energy costs, inflation and pay agreement commitments continue to place significant pressure on our financial resources. While the council will continue to receive support for agreed pay increases and have budgeted accordingly our capacity to expand income sources remains limited.”

Councillors were told that the proposed total for 2026 was €28,072,682 with funding under the road transport and safety heading accounting for the vast majority of the budget allocation at €22,589,324.

Other elements of the proposed budget included €2,129,429 for recreation and amenity services, €1,708,425 for environmental services and €939,449 for the operation of piers and harbours and coastal protection. The maintenance of public toilets was budgeted at €404,245 and tourism development was allocated €254,674.

PIERS AND HARBOURS

Fine Gael’s Caroline Cronin said the allocation for piers and harbours “seemed small” though senior staff officer Noreen O’Mahony pointed out that capital funding for piers and harbours would be sourced separately from central government.

Isobel Towse of the Social Democrats said the total proposed budget represented a decrease in funding of €115,000 compared to 2025 and pointed out that savings could be made by replacing expensive automated “super loo” toilets with those maintained by council staff.

Independent Ireland’s Danny Collins said a €115,000 decrease in the proposed budget in the same year that householders were being asked to pay a 5% increase in LPT would not be acceptable to him and he would not vote for the proposed budget. He said funding for roads had actually gone down and roads was the issue “that we are hearing about right across the area”.

His party colleague Daniel Sexton agreed and said there appeared to be a reduction in funding for coastal protection too.

Mr Sexton said it was not apparent where the extra money from the LPT increase was going.

Deirdre Kelly of Fianna Fáil asked for clarification that the revenue from the LPT increase was being ring-fenced for capital projects, which was confirmed by council officials.

Mr Collins said if the money was ring-fenced it was a case of “robbing Peter to pay Paul”, and that ultimately the operating budget total had gone down which he said he could not support.

It was agreed that more funding should be sought from the executive and councillors also asked for a more detailed breakdown of the proposed budget. The 2026 draft budgetary plan as presented was rejected.

This article is funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.