*Clare County Council passed its Budget for 2026 this week.
BUSINESSES across Clare are agitated with elected members and the Executive of Clare County Council following their decision to increase commercial rates by 8%.
At Áras Contae an Chláir on Wednesday evening, the Budget was passed with no resistance from elected members in a meeting which lasted 102 minutes.
Of the 28 elected members of the County Council, 17 made contributions during the course of the meeting while 11 remained silent for the duration of the gathering. For the first time in the 455 year history of the local authority, the Budget accounts for a spend of €204m.
Ennis Chamber have been among the most vocal critics and said elected members are out of the touch with the reality faced by businesses while trying to hammer through the commercial rates increase. This view has been shared by many business owners across Clare who have shared their frustration since The Clare Echo first reported of the planned hike on Tuesday.
It is the second time since 2022 and the third in seventeen years that the commercial rates have been increased by Clare County Council.
To give our readers an informed view, an account of the contributions of elected members from Wednesday’s Budget meeting has been compiled.
Cllr Mary Howard (FG), Cllr Antoinette Baker Bashua (FF), Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF), Cllr David Griffin (FF), Cllr Rachel Hartigan (FF), Cllr Pat O’Gorman (FF), Cllr James Ryan (SF), Cllr Michael Begley (IND), Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG), Cllr Dinny Gould (IND) and Cllr Gabriel Keating (FG) were the 11 councillors to stay schtum during the Budget meeting.
Chief Executive of the Council, Gordon Daly said he was “pleased” to present the Budget for consideration and approval. It is the first Budget to be delivered during the Tuamgraney man’s tenure. “The draft budget endorses the priorities and key objectives as set out in our discussions since I took on the role of Chief Executive”. He said the “importance of the local economy” was recognised, “a significant amount of our expenditure remains in Clare”. He stated, “we have sought to strike a balance between generating an income and our expenditure”. An additional €3.5m will be provided to the Council by raising the rates, he confirmed.
Director of Finance, Enterprise and Investment at Clare County Council, Noeleen Fitzgerald explained that there are over 550 vacant properties in the county, “well over half of that” are providing less than €2,500 in their rates contribution,
“they are in rural towns and villages like small shops, this is a real piece of legislation that we need to look at in the coming year, how we can get property owners to bring them back into use”. She said the Council has a proposed capital spend over the next three years of €437m but cautioned, “we still have to identify €80m before we progress it”. She continued, “next year we plan on spending 190m on roads and housing delivery”.
On expenditure, the “main increases” are in housing, building, roads, safety and environmental services,” she outlined. €5.6m is the cost of homeless services which is an increase of €1m, she advised. Renting and leasing properties is an area where the Council can only recoup 90% from Central Government, Fitzgerald said.
According to Fitzgerald, on an annual basis, “the Fire Service is costing us over €11m” and the local authority does not receive full recoupment. Other costs listed include €8.7m on library services, €2m on street cleaning, €1.2m on public lighting, €6m on parks, pitches and open spaces. She said comments made on radio that the public realm works in Ennis were “fully funded” were incorrect, “that was not the case, we’ve spent over €20m between phase one and two, Clare County Council has to fund part of that”.
Acquiring the Cloister building is included in the Budget, she advised while outlining that €3m has to be borrowed and match funding provided for the public realm works in Scariff. For the €17m library, €5m came from Government grants, the Council gave match funding of €12m and borrowed €7.5m.
Moving to the subject of commercial rates, the Director said €2m of the €3.5m that the Council will receive will be from the energy and utility sector. “A third of our customers will be asked for an extra €1.28 a week”. She added, “For half of the properties, we’re looking for an additional €3. 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 and invest on the increases we’re seeing”.
Fitzgerald commented, “Percentages are thrown out there, it is 8% but 8% of what, our lowest rate payer is paying €300 and they are paying €24 more, for over 70% even the very top person in category C is €400 in the year, most of our rate payers are in the bottom tier, we have a scheme where if you have pay your rates by debit you are entitled to a 5% reduction. It is a real opportunity for businesses, if they see 8% as significant there is an opportunity”.
Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy (FF) praised the top table for a “very succinct presentation of the very complex financial transactions for the local authority”. She questioned for businesses to avail of the commercial rates support scheme do they have to pay by direct debit or to have all rates paid for by the August deadline.
Cllr Tommy Guilfoyle (SF) noted the “in-depth report”. “One thing I’ve listened to is every time we go to do something good we don’t get funded in total by Central Government and we have to try get match funding ourselves”. He asked for further detail on the amount of match funding on the Council’s books and the institutions the Council is borrowing from. “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) agreed, “match funding is the crux of the difficulty, 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”. He spoke of the need for match funding in order to deliver more housing in the county, “I welcome the ambition to continue our improvement in housing activation for 2026 and thereafter”.
Cllr Rita McInerney (FF) shared her concerns on the “process” followed in adopting the Budget. “I feel that there is a requirement of this process to start earlier on the engagement with the councillors, it is a comprehensive document and one we only received a week ago, I’d like for my own information to go more in-depth and be involved from an earlier stage”. She added, “there’s large chunks lacking on the detail from my perspective”. On rates, she said, “The rates situation is difficult, costs in general is difficult for any businesses”.
Responding to the first cohort of speakers, Head of Finance, Noelee Fitzgerald outlined that it can be difficult to have engagement when dealing with a Budget in excess of €200m, “it is quite considerable detail, we’ve an organisation with over 1,000 staff, we’ve a lot of line items across six directorate, is it also 200m into the local economy”. She said finance workshops are held with councillors to give them more detail. Planning contributions are used “as an opportunity for smaller items” when it comes to match funding where “multiple ministerial lines” are dealt with for funding.
Cllr Conor Ryan (FG) admitted “my phone has been ringing from different businesses on the 8% hike”. He sought further information on the SME support scheme and whether it will be rolled out “for future years considering the rate will apply from here on out”.
Cllr Ian Lynch (IND) picked out the Chief Executive’s use of the words “fairness and balance” from his contribution. He felt there was an imbalance in services as he pointed out, “we have a gardening section that the county town benefits from a lot more than the rest of the us”. He flagged that it is businesses and community groups in Kilrush paying for Christmas lights, flowers, a traditional festival and organising the St Patrick’s Day parade whereas supports are given to Ennis. “I hope this budget will build a balance and we get a fair share of it, we want the county town to thrive, we know if Ennis does well then Kilrush and the rest of the towns do well,” he stated. Cllr Lynch highlighted that of the €2m street cleaning budget, €1m stays in Ennis. “The 5% rebate for rates was there last year, it is very easy to make the figures sound good. I’m not going to go against the Budget but I’m saying there should be a balance”.
Cllr Shane Talty (FF) reminded the Chief Executive this was a clear example of councillors showing their trust in him. “You are five months in the role with a new strategic direction set out, you are asking us to back you in your strategic ambition for the county. Over the course of the next while you will get that backing but with that comes the responsibility that we ned to see outcome and delivery to respond to the queries we get today and into next year”. He felt there was “fundamental flaws in local government financing”. He said there are no questions asked when the pay of a teacher is increased and also flagged that projects in education are fully funded by the Department whereas the Council must rely on match funding. He described references to the 5% rates rebate scheme as “disingenuous, that was used in 2022 as an explainer to ease the increase of the time”. Ennis has been invested in and “fairly supported” by the Council, he said while pointing out that businesses in Inagh are the ones sweeping up by public bins at the same time the county town gets €1.1m for street cleaning.
Cllr Pat Burke (FG) asked the top table if they met with Ennis Chamber prior to the Budget.
In her second round of replies, Fitzgerald said the SME scheme had been included in the Budget “for a number of years and it is in the budget going forward”. She apologised if her comments on the rebate scheme came across as disingenuous. She confirmed she met with Shannon Chamber and Ennis Chamber prior to the meeting.
Cllr Bill Slattery (FG) shared his frustrations on the money generated from the Cliffs of Moher not staying in the locality. “I can’t convince the people asking me coming from North Clare area why are ye looking for more money with the amount of money coming into the Cliffs. I can’t convince people in North Clare that the money coming into Cliffs of Moher has to be ring-fenced for tourism, they are asking can the numbers be capped and extra money be put into roads which are destroyed every year by the people on buses bringing people to the cash cow that is the Cliffs of Moher”.
Cllr Pat Daly (FF) said the decision to pass the Budget was made “very easy” thanks to the Head of Finance. “You made it very easy from the start when you said a third of rate payers would be €1.20 per week extra, it makes it very easy”. Ennis representatives are “very pleased with the recent developments” including the public realm works, de Valera library and the upcoming paint scheme “will see every shop in the town painted”. He added, “There’s good things happening, Ennis is one of the finest towns in Ireland after the works. Overall Ennis people will gain from what has happened with these developments”.
Cllr Joe Garrihy (FG) believed there has been “a serious amount of investment” made during his time as a county councillor, he was first elected in 2019 “when the purse strings nationally opened and allowed for an opportunity to make up for at least ten yeas of under-investment”. He said, “the challenges of being ambitious are matching funds and management of projects”. The Council must “steer footfall and focus” to the SMEs affected by the rates increase, he stressed while flagging there is a lot of investment directed towards Council owned facilities. “I think increasing the rates is justified based on the investment,” he commented. He praised philanthropic donators like Tomar Trust, JP McManus and Mick Guinee for enabling development across the county.
According to Fitzgerald, “strong management and the Wild Atlantic Way which has been a phenomenal success and the motorway development” is leading to increased visitors to the Cliffs of Moher. “It is successful but there are six others not in a position to turn a balanced position, they don’t generate the income versus the cost of operating them,” she said of the Council owned tourist attractions. She admitted, “tourism is not our natural business” while stating the amount of American tourists to the Cliffs of Moher has dropped with a 8,200 reduction in coach numbers since its peak figure. “We do invest and have been investing in the local site, we hear what you are saying, we recognise the success of the sites bring requests locally”.
Cllr Michael Shannon (FF) stated, “We have a very high compliance of rate payers, is it over 90%. The rate payers do pay their rates and have a great track record, there’s lot of benefits out of the rates, the public works has out county town looking fantastic, it all has to be paid for”.
Cllr Alan O’Callaghan (FF) had sympathy for those working in finance, “It is a tough gig with over €200m”. He remarked, “It is a bit like turkeys voting for Christmas but it is what we have to do it”. Queries on the rates increases for neighbouring counties Galway and Limerick were voiced by Cllr O’Callaghan.
Cllr Tom O’Callaghan (FF) attending online in his contribution explained, “It is not about Ennis town it is about the county, this is a county budget, these are projects we’ve all invested in and we want to see come to fruition. I certainly feel that there is now an awareness and openness to listen in Ennis”. Parking deficits in the town need to be examined, he said. “I feel positive about this, the sole objective about this is we need a strong marketing campaign in the first quarter to push our vibrant county”.
Cllr Pat Hayes (FF) described the Budget as “substantial”. He said, “The one thing that gives me good hope is we will spend half a million on housing activation, it is the first time we have made that effort”. He welcomed the increase in spending on roads across the county.
Border counties are watched “closely” by the finance team, Noeleen said. “If a new school is built it is 100 percent funded but in local government if we were to do a community facility we have to come up with the funding”.
On the recommendation of Cllr Hayes and Cllr John Crowe (FG), the Budget was proposed and seconded.
After deeming the Budget to be passed, Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) took another contribution from Cllr Guilfoyle who said, “I understand the Budget is passed, I can’t vote in favour of it” to which Cllr Tony O’Brien (FF) interrupted, “there was no vote” and Cllr Guilfoyle clarified, “I can’t support the motion on the floor” and Cllr O’Brien repeated, “there was no vote”.
