Search
10 Sept 2025
Search
10 Sept 2025
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
Offaly County Council could face major financial difficulties if €1.5 m in compensation is not paid by central government
Offaly County Council face a potential €1.5m shortfall for 2021 if the Department of Housing Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) do not compensate the Council for additional Covid related expenditure in 2021 and for loss of goods and services income as a result of the pandemic in 2021.
Head of Finance with Offaly County Council, Mark Connolly said funding was provided in 2020 but, ''no confirmation of similar funding for 2021 has been given yet. ''
This is not just an issue for Offaly County Council but is a local government issue. There are ongoing negotiations with the DHLGH in trying to resolve the matter, he said.
Mr Connolly said: ''This would most likely push Offaly County Council’s financial outturn for 2021 into a deficit position. This in turn would have an impact on future budgets as we try to eliminate our cumulative deficit going forward.''
Mr Connolly moved to clarify the issue after Councillor Frank Moran noted that a document from Mr Connolly distributed at the monthly Municipal District meeting mentioned that there was a significant doubt whether the funding will be provided.
''The 2020 figure was allocated from central government of €1.3m to the local authority. So what doubt is there?'' asked Cllr Moran. ''There should be no doubt whatsoever. That funding should be provided to Offaly County Council for the period 2021.That doubt that central government is not going to provide it will be a huge hit to Offaly County Council when it comes to the budget,'' he said.
Councillor Neil Feighery said the money had already been approved and Minister Peter Bourke had announced it ''two days ago.''
However, Mark Connolly has clarified that the money referred to by Cllr Feighery was €1.7m associated with the closure of Shannonbridge Power Station. He said the rates from the power station were worth 1.7m to Offaly County Council annually.
However, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) has confirmed that the shortfall in rates income for Offaly County Council for 2022 due to the Shannonbridge Power Station closure will be funded by Central Government again in 2022 as it was in 2021.
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
