€1m fund to help councillors fund projects

“It’s a bit vague.”

€1 million has been set aside by the local council this year to help councillors fund projects within their constituencies.

The Local Priorities Fund gives each councillor €25k to use throughout 2026 to fund projects within their electoral areas and was created after the elected members chose to reduce Local Property Tax by 7.5 per cent.

The LPT is usually reduced by 15 per cent each year and some councillors raised eyebrows after this smaller reduction was made.

Funding allocations are expected to benefit a significant number of people within a local electoral area and also be spent within the year, if used correctly.

They cannot be used for sponsorship or advertising of an event or organisation, staffing costs or any projects that are deemed contradictory to local, regional or national policy

Councillor William Carey noted that he is not “totally in favour” of the new initiative and felt that the ‘300K Have Your Say’ project was a better method of funding.

€300k Have Your Say allowed residents to develop project proposals for their local area and then vote on shortlisted proposals to select winning projects to receive funding worth up to €300k – one of these projects included Irish-language signs in Clondalkin.

Cllr Carey said: “When each individual councillor is looking at their own priorities, they need to be looking at the community in general and how to best affect the overall community…

“…Now, that we’ve been given access to the funding, I’ve no doubt that we, as councillors, will find worthy causes and worthy places for the money to go.

“I just hope that all councillors will approach it with a sense of wisdom and a sense of caution.”

Each electoral area has a pool of at least €125k and at most €175k, depending on how many councillors operate within the constituency.

Palmerstown/Fonthill, Lucan, Tallaght South and Firhouse-Bohernabreena all have five councillors, Tallaght Central has 6 and Clondalkin and Rathfarnham-Templegoue both have seven each, with a €25k pool of funding available to each councillor.

A separate application must be completed in respect of each proposed allocation from the fund.

The minimum amount for each allocation drawn from the fund per councillor is €2,500.

Councillor Linda De Courcy already has plans for part of her allocation and is in talks with other councillors in the Clondalkin LEA to set up a new school bus service in the area.

Cllr De Courcy feels that the Local Priority Fund is “in essence, a good idea” and hopes that it will bring about cooperation between elected members.

Cllr De Courcy: “So, it’s very preliminary – set up a new school bus service for the four schools on New Road and Convent Road to take pressure off parents who have to drive and get stuck in traffic, and generally they have somewhere else to go.

“So, I think if we can get that to work, that would be great!”

Councillors must ensure that they make any necessary declarations in accordance with the Code of Conduct for Councillors as well as ensure there are no conflicts of interest.

However, this does not strike confidence in some councillors that this will be followed.

Councillor Jess Spear underlined her concern that such allocations could lead to “corruption” and stated her preference for the ‘300K Have Your Say’ initiative, which encouraged input from members of the public living in South Dublin.

A total of 62 projects were voted on by 42,342 citizens across the county from 2017 to 2023 and at least 45 were delivered, with some large projects left shelved, such as new basketball and tennis courts in Kilnamanagh worth €60k.

Cllr Spear further stated that she feels it is “essentially a slush fund for councillors to buy votes with” and also called for property taxes to be scrapped, not increased.

Cllr Spear said: “If the council wanted to fund specific community projects, they should have continued the ‘300k Have Your Say’, which allows the community to decide what got funded.

“I don’t think it’s right that individual councillors get to decide what’s done with this much money because, at best, it will encourage clientelism, and at worst, it opens up the possibility of corruption.”

Funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.