Mayo councillors seek report on unspent funding of €200k being returned to Government
Mayo councillors have requested a report to investigate if €200k, earmarked for Local Improvement Scheme (LIS) funding, was returned to the Department of Rural and Community Development in 2024.
LIS funding helps local authorities carry out improvement works on private and non-publicaly maintained roads.
The issue of LIS funding being sent back was originally raised in the monthly Mayo County Council meeting, where Cllr John O’Hara introduced a motion to increase LIS funding in the county. This motion gained the support of councillors, who agreed that there needs to be a “serious injection” of LIS funding.
Cllr Annie May Reape then asked the question if all the money allocated in 2024 was spent, as she had heard otherwise.
In response, Director of Services Tom Gilligan replied: “In relation to 2024, we were allocated €1.5m and we drew down €1.295m. We got another allocation for the islands of €87k and we drew that down into two schemes.”
Councillors referenced €200k being returned, this figure corresponds to the portion of the overall allocation that remained unspent across the county, according to the figures given by Mr Gilligan.
Councillors expressed outrage once they learnt that funding had not been spent, with many stating they have long lists of roads needing work.
“If money went back, why wasn't it reallocated. I have a list of 20 or 30 applicants, if money goes back to the department we need to know,” said Cllr Reape, “If the local contribution isn’t paid, then we will go to the next person on our list and they will pay it.”
LIS funding asks for a contribution from those living on the private road that will benefit from improvement works. The local contribution is set at 10pc for eligible roads where there will be five beneficiaries, and 15pc for those with six or more. The contribution is capped at €1,200, and is a voluntary payment.
Mr Gilligan clarified that without the contribution, road improvements cannot proceed: “If they don’t pay into the contribution fund we have to write again to the department in relation to the next scheme. Unfortunately it takes weeks for the department to come back and respond to us,” he said.
Councillors requested a report into the matter, which is due to be on the agenda for the September meeting.
The discussion continued at the Westport-Bemullet Municipal District meeting, when Cllr John O’Malley said it was a disgrace if funding was returned.
“I was disappointed to see LIS funding was sent back to the department from the Castlebar area, around €200k. That is very bad interaction between the whole county, funding should not go back,” he said.
Cllr Gerry Coyle described LIS roads as disastrous and said it was beyond belief that money had been returned: “We always had another road lined up if people couldn't make the local contribution. It was always the case that if they don't go ahead, the secondary road gets done instead. We never sent a penny back.”
The matter was later brought up again during the Castlebar Municipal District meeting.
“We need to be told if funding is left over so that we are informed and given the opportunity to spend it, we all have quite a lot of work to do on roads,” said Cllr Harry Barret who raised the issue.
Cllr Donna Sheridan asked for clarity: “My understanding of the scheme is we send up a list to the department of the LIS roads, and the people then contribute a certain percentage.” She asked for confirmation if councillors can move onto their secondary lists or do they need departmental approval for this.
Lists of roads that need LIS funding are divided into priority and secondary. The council submits their priority list to the department for projects that will be completed within the funding allocated. The secondary list is then submitted and can be used to select a substitute road in the event a road on the priority list can’t be completed.
In response to this, Pat McHale an executive engineer with the council offered clarity saying: “The LIS is a sum of money that is allocated annually, we in the municipal districts create a list of schemes that we would like to propose, we also collect a secondary list, there is a primary list and a secondary list,
“If it's a case we exhaust all of the schemes on our primary list or if there are schemes that drop off, we go back to the department for approvals on the secondary list.”
He could not clarify for certain if the €200k sum was correct. A report from the Chief Executive is expected in September.
This report was funded by the Local Democracy Reporting Scheme.