Offaly's Commercial Rates to increase by 5pc

COUNCILLORS of Offaly County Council decided to increase the local authority's Commercial Rates by 5% during their annual Budget meeting in Áras an Chontae on Monday afternoon.
The meeting was told that while the Commercial Rates will rise significantly, in the cases where the rate payer has an annual rate of €10,000, they will be offered an early payment discount of 5% (to a maximum of €500) where the Rates are discharged in full by 30th September.
Councillors said they are very grateful to the rate payers in the county for their compliance rate of over 93%.
This is the first time that Offaly County Council has increased its Commercial Rates since 2007.
Formally proposing the Budget, Cllr Peter Ormond pointed out that the council has provided many supports to SMEs “and I would like to thank the staff from the Enterprise Section for their work in this matter. We as a council must continue to provide support for businesses and we welcome the €50,000 extra for Economic Development Initiatives. Small SMEs are the lifeblood of our county, and we must continue to support them in every way possible.”
Cllr Ormond said the Council has been very fortunate to receive funding for many great projects over the last 10 years. However the stage has now been reached where some of these projects need maintenance and upgrades. Therefore in Budget 2026 additional funding from commercial rates has been ring-fenced for projects such as Playgrounds, shop front schemes, Christmas lights for towns and villages, Festival/Events, Public Parks, Heritage graveyards, Street cleaning, road safety measures and Economic development.
One of the key changes in the Budget is the significant increase in the housing budget. “Housing remains a priority for this authority,” said Cllr Ormond. “The delivery of social and affordable housing is paramount for us going forward. In the 2026 Estimated Expenditure, Housing and Buildings have over 38% of the total budget which is very positive.”
For 2026 there are significant increases in the various housing budgets, including pre-lets, planned maintenance, traveller accommodation and homelessness. The Councillors particularly welcomed the extra €600,000, including additional expenditure of €330,000, for the pre-lets/Voids and €100,000 towards traveller accommodation. “It is important that we continue in a positive manner to let our houses out to prospective tenants in a timely fashion,” commented Cllr Ormond.
There was an increase in maintenance requests in 2025 and therefore the extra €120,000 allocated for expenditure is welcome.
Also welcome are the Housing Grants from Croí Cónaithe, which have increased by €250,000 and which are fully recoupable.
The homeless provision is increased by €200,000, with €140,000 of it coming from matched income.
The Councillors welcomed that the allocation for Housing Adaptation Grants and Housing Aid for the elderly for Private dwellings are maximized again this year. “I want to take this opportunity,” remarked Cllr Ormond, “to thank the Housing Staff and the Housing SPC for the efficiency they are bringing in to deal with the backlog. This year we are on target to complete 300 applications as opposed to 180 in 2024.
“We would ask that our housing section consult with the Department with a view to increasing the allocation for our housing stock.”
Inflation is running at approximately 2% per annum and the Municipal District Allowance for each Municipal District is increased to €202,000 for the Edenderry MD, €211,000 for the Birr MD and €220,000 for the Tullamore MD. This funding is important as it is discretionary funding for each MD and allows the Councillors to focus on local priorities and community initiatives.
Cllr Ormond thanked Chief Executive, Ms. Anna Marie Delaney, Director of Finance, Fiona Millane, Thomas Mawe and the Finance Team for “presenting us with a balanced budget today. I would also like to thank the management team and members of the Corporate Policy Group for their input into the budget process. This year’s budget representing an expenditure/investment of over €102 million presents a road map for the coming year and we would like to thank each Director for outlining their priorities for 2026 in the supplementary Directorate reports.
“The Chief Executive's Report outlines in her report a list of projects that we made significant progress with in 2025. We must continue with that level of progress and ensure we have a pipeline of projects ready to proceed and as elected representatives continue to provide matching funding. There is a wide range of projects throughout the county and it is welcome to see so many projects that will improve the quality of facilities in our respective communities. The budget of €102m is supplemented by an extra €55 million that will be spent on the capital programme in 2026.
“While the budget and the functions of the local authority increase, it is important that the basic services are continued to be funded adequately. As public representatives, we continue to receive correspondence about road maintenance, potholes, verges, graveyard maintenance, playground maintenance, flooding, housing maintenance costs and so on. The budget presented before us here today will address these issues.”
Except where a property changed to a different valuation band, there will be no increase to Local Property Tax charged to householders for 2026. Like other years, this funding is ringfenced for matching funding for major infrastructural projects. The local property tax baseline review is maintained at current levels at €11.552m. The next review will be in 2028.
Cllr Ormond pointed out that the Budget would not have been possible without an additional payment of €1.7m from the Department because of the loss of commercial rates from the former West Offaly Power Station in Shannonbridge. “We have emphasized this for the last number of years, that this Rates Rebate becomes a permanent fixture in our central allocation from the Department and we reiterate that point here again today. This is necessary to secure the long-term stability of our finances. It was disappointing to learn recently that the Department have reiterated that this is unlikely to continue long term and will most likely be phased out. I am asking the question, do we need to start putting measures in place to minimize a sudden shock? Perhaps this is something we need to start thinking about for future budgets during the term of this council. We are requesting that this item be placed on the Corporate Policy Group agenda on a Quarterly basis.
“We would also like to welcome that in line with commitments made previously, the historic cumulative deficit will be cleared in 2025.
“The maintenance of our roads has always been a priority for Offaly County Council. It is important that we continue to maintain our roads, to be able to fill the potholes, carry out flood relief works, hedge cutting at appropriate times and carry out essential repairs. For this reason, we welcome the additional allocation of €150,000 for our county roads allocation/winter maintenance and additional funding for public lighting to €100,000.
“I want to take this opportunity to thank the staff in the roads section and in particular our outdoor staff for their work over the last week. We are very fortunate to have staff that are so committed to public service and are prepared to go out after hours and in all kinds of weather.
“Greenways are now a common feature in Offaly due to some great decisions made in the past. We welcome in 2025 the completion of the Leabeg to Boora Greenway link and the completion of the Trailhead at Ballycommon. The tender is gone out for a feasibility study to look at the possibility of linking Shannon Harbour to Banagher and we hope that this project will be looked on favourably in 2026. We also welcome the continued funding for the Tourism promotion of the county and we support the addition of €87,000 towards parks and open spaces and public realm maintenance.
“The maintenance of our graveyards is now made up of a hybrid model with many different models used throughout the county. I welcome the proposal to increase funding to €266,000. We get tremendous value for that money, and we would like to thank the volunteers and members of staff throughout the county for their efforts in maintaining the graveyards. Our Heritage graveyards are an important part of our heritage, and we welcome funding of €10,000 for their maintenance.
“We adopted the Climate Action Plan 2024-2029 in February 2024 and the actions within the plan will be funded through areas such as building energy savings and fleet adaptation.
“We welcome that we can increase the level of funding announced last year to some of our community services. The support for our library book fund is important and the extra €20,000, bringing it to €285,000 and €37,000 for other library services is particularly welcome.
“We also welcome the funding for the arts sector, Playgrounds repairs receiving an extra €40,000 bringing it to €170,000 and our public swimming pools, €255,000.
“We welcome some additional funding of €40,000 for Christmas lights in our towns and villages and €30,000 for festivals and events.
“The budget presented before us today is a positive budget for the county and for the first time we will have in excess of €100m. However, we must be prudent, we must work within our means and adopt a balanced budget. We must continue to strive for efficiencies and best practices and build on our reputation where we can create employment opportunities and be an attractive place to live in.
“Before I conclude, I want to thank our Cathaoirleach Cllr Leahy who facilitated a number of meetings. I want to thank the finance team again and our Director of Finance, Fiona Mullane, for her work on the budget process. Over the last few weeks, Fiona was always at the end of a phone and answered our queries in a timely manner.
“I also want to take this opportunity to thank our Chief Executive Anna Marie Delaney for her work over the last 10 years. The Chief Executive was prepared to take some tough decisions in the past and we are seeing the fruits of those decisions with the budget presented to us today. I want to wish you well as we understand this will be your last budget day in Offaly County Council.
“This is a positive budget for county Offaly, and I propose that we adopt the budget as presented before us today.”
Cllr Frank Moran seconded the proposal. He pointed out that each of the county's swimming pools will receive an extra €10,000, “which will make a huge difference.” Cllr Moran said the proposed Clara Inner Relief Road has been on the capital works programme for a number of years, “but I am glad to see some positive movement with regards to the Relief Road this year.”
Cllr Seán Maher said the Budget has been substantially increased this year, “which can only be good.” He said the 5% Rates increase will have a “minimum effect” on SMEs and the money raised will go back into good projects throughout the county.
Cllr Seán O'Brien said he fully supported the Budget. “It has many positives,” he remarked. “It has a community focus, a housing focus. It contains a number of big funding increases.”
Cllr Liam Quinn said he was glad to see that the Council's deficit has now been cleared after several years.
Cllr John Leahy said it's a “pro-business” Budget. “We have the third lowest Commercial Rates in Ireland."
Cllr Neil Feighery said it would be wrong to take away the €1.7 million and let the matter fall off a cliff.

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