MEMBERS of the council’s West Cork Municipal District voted to reject the 2026 draft budget at a special meeting in Dunmanway last week.

Councillors were presented with a draft 2026 fund in the amount of €28,072,682, but they called for it to be rejected because it is €115,000 less than last year’s allocation.

Cllr Daniel Sexton and Danny Collins of Independent Ireland were backed by other councillors, including Social Democrat Isobel Towse, in pointing out that the local authority had agreed to increase local property tax (LPT) from 10% to 15% in the hopes of having an enhanced budget for the year ahead.

Cllr Deirdre Kelly (FF) asked why that increase wasn’t included in the figures mentioned during an outline of the funding across seven different programmes.

Senior executive officer Noreen O’Mahony explained that the funding increase from the LPT is to be ring fenced for capital projects. ‘We will be coming to the councillors with proposals as to how that money can be spent over the life of this council,’ she said.

Council staff advised that ‘rising energy costs, inflation, and pay agreement commitments continue to place significant pressure on our financial resources.

‘While the council will continue to receive support for agreed pay increases and have budgeted accordingly,’ the administrative officer said, ‘our capacity to expand income sources remains limited.’

The single biggest allocation was €22.5m for road transport and safety works, of which €9m was earmarked for the maintenance and improvement of regional roads, and €12.6m for  local roads.

A traffic management improvement budget of €285,977, which also comes under the overall roads and transport budget, would be used to operate the cable car to and from Dursey Island.

The draft budget for the operation and maintenance of public conveniences amounted to €404,245, with an additional €254,674 planned for tourism development and promotion – a figure that includes the funding of Michael Collins House Museum in Clonakilty.

A €1.7m allocation was proposed for environmental services, such as litter management, street cleaning, the maintenance of burial grounds and safety spending.

The sum of €2.1m was proposed under the recreation and amenity programme, which includes the operation of leisure facilities, like the Dunmanway pool and fitness complex, and outdoor leisure areas. And the figure €192,626 has been ring fenced for the operation of the council’s arts programme in West Cork.

Under agriculture, education, health and welfare, the sum of €939,449 was proposed for the operation and maintenance of piers and harbours, a figure that included €91,278 for coastal protection works.

As part of the miscellaneous services programme, the sum of €47,136 was proposed for the operation of markets and casual trading.

Cllr Caroline Cronin (FG) complained that the €848,171 allocation for piers and harbours is ‘a very small amount given that there is so much work that needs to be done.’

Cllr Danny Collins said councillors would not accept a decrease in the roads allocation in 2026 because the state of the roads is what most people complain about.

‘I can’t see myself voting for this budget,’ he said. ‘Go back to the powers that be and see if we can get extra money out of them.’