Áras Contae an Chláir
AN EIGHT percent increase in commercial rates has been approved by elected members of Clare County Council.
Elected members of the local authority on Wednesday overwhelmingly adopted the Budget is the first during Gordon Daly’s tenure as Chief Executive. “It is the first time the revenue of the Budget will exceed €200m this will accelerate housing delivery and infrastructure. It is a record level of infrastructure”. The revenue budget has gone from €130m in 2021 to €204m for next year.
It is the second time since 2022 that Clare County Council have increased commercial rates. This move has been slammed by Ennis Chamber with President Diarmuid McMahon labelling it as “a hammer blow to businesses”. The vote took place one day before the scheduled completion of the main construction phase of the long-running €11.5m public realm works in Ennis town which has served as an incredibly challenging period for businesses in the county town.
Keeping councillors on side is the proposal to retain the General Municipal Allocation (GMA) at the same rate for 2026. The GMA is used by elected members to fund local groups and organisations which they find helpful in securing votes come election time but also to deliver projects that would be left on the back-burner due to funding shortfalls from Central Government.
Chief Executive Daly told the meeting that the budget “endorses the priorities and key objectives as set out in our discussions since I took on the role”. The Budget includes an additional €1m for road infrastructure next year and €500,000 for housing activation. He outlined, “we have sought to strike balance between generating income and expenditure”.
A quarter of the Council’s income for 2026 will be from commercial rates and another quarter from the local property tax which is expected to be in the region of €3.5m. “The commercial rates increase will deliver additional income,” Daly advised. “Our capital programme reflects Clare County Council’s ambition to have a significant investment in Clare,” he added while committing to provide a list of detailed investment capital priorities early in 2026.
Director of Finance, Investment and Enterprise, Noeleen Fitzgerald stated that the Council intended to spend €190m on roads and housing delivery next year which she labelled as “substantial expenditure”. She said €1m in increased costs have been experienced in operating homeless services rising to €5.6m. To run the Fire Service is costing over €11m, she stated.
On the rates increase, Noeleen commented, “a third of our customers will be asked for €1.28 extra a week, another percent of an increase would bring it to €3”. She continued, “for three out of every five businesses, we’re looking for €5 extra in order to have a stable financial environment for the local authority”. She said the rates increase was “a real opportunity for businesses” and referenced how the cost of the Limerick Toll and Sunday newspapers has also increased in recent years.
This breakdown according to Cllr Pat Daly (FF) “makes it very easy” to support the Budget. “There’s lot of benefits out of the rates, the public works that has the county town looking fantastic, it all has to be paid for,” remarked Cllr Michael Shannon (FF).
Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) proposed the adoption of the Budget with Cllr John Crowe (FG) seconding its approval. After the Budget was passed, Cllr Tommy Guilfoyle (SF) stated that he could not support its approval, he spoke earlier in the meeting that the “crux of the problem is how local authorities are funded by Central Government, it is far below the European norm”. Cllr Joe Killeen (FF) stated, “The greater the ambition the greater the deficit we have, we want to stay with our own ambition and have the best Council and local authority in the country”.
More detail on the Budget needs to be provided to elected members with Cllr Rita McInerney (FF) describing the rates increase as “difficult”. Spending half a million on housing activation was welcomed by Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF).
Of the €2m spent by the Council on street cleaning, €1m is in Ennis. The need for “fairness and balance” across the entire county was stressed by Cllr Ian Lynch (IND) and echoed by Cllr Shane Talty (FF). The failure to put revenue generated by the Cliffs of Moher into improving North Clare roads was criticised by Cllr Bill Slattery (FG).
Following a query from Cllr Pat Burke (FG), the Finance Director confirmed she met with Ennis and Shannon Chamber before Budget Day, the meeting with Ennis Chamber taking place “early” on Tuesday morning.
Footfall must be driven to small and medium enterprises as a result of increasing rates, Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) outlined.
