
Galway City sees Local Property Tax surplus for another year
Over the three years leading up to 2026, baseline funding has risen steadily, up 33% overall.
Local authorities receive a baseline funding amount to guide their budgeting. If an authority collects less LPT revenue than this baseline, it receives an additional allocation to equalise or given a 'boost'. Conversely, if it collects more than the baseline, the surplus must be directed toward roads, housing, and similar projects.
In 2025, Galway City is in a €5m surplus for local authority use. For 2026, a provisional €2m increase in LPT revenue is projected.
Local government and Planning Minister, John Cummins said: 'For the 10 surplus Local Authorities, they will see significant uplift which will assist them in delivering urban regeneration projects for the benefit of their growing communities.'
The Local Authority is 'essential' to the servicing of Galway city said Housing Minister James Browne and 'each of them will now see an increase in funding in line with their increased yield.'
While homeowners are expected to see a slight rise in their Local Property Tax bills, most will remain within their current valuation bands. It is noted that yield from this specific increase will also go to the local authority.
'Those who are paying local property taxes deserve to see their contribution at work in their local areas and today I have made changes to ensure more locally sourced revenue is spent where it comes from.'
County Galway is expected to be an authority that requires equalisation meaning the LPT will amount to less than the baseline set out, and funding will be provided to them.
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Irish Independent
19 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Galway City sees Local Property Tax surplus for another year
The Housing Department announced that an additional €42m will be added to the LPT 'baseline funding' next year. This will bring the allocation from €696m in 2025 to €744m in 2026. Over the three years leading up to 2026, baseline funding has risen steadily, up 33% overall. Local authorities receive a baseline funding amount to guide their budgeting. If an authority collects less LPT revenue than this baseline, it receives an additional allocation to equalise or given a 'boost'. Conversely, if it collects more than the baseline, the surplus must be directed toward roads, housing, and similar projects. In 2025, Galway City is in a €5m surplus for local authority use. For 2026, a provisional €2m increase in LPT revenue is projected. Local government and Planning Minister, John Cummins said: 'For the 10 surplus Local Authorities, they will see significant uplift which will assist them in delivering urban regeneration projects for the benefit of their growing communities.' The Local Authority is 'essential' to the servicing of Galway city said Housing Minister James Browne and 'each of them will now see an increase in funding in line with their increased yield.' While homeowners are expected to see a slight rise in their Local Property Tax bills, most will remain within their current valuation bands. It is noted that yield from this specific increase will also go to the local authority. 'Those who are paying local property taxes deserve to see their contribution at work in their local areas and today I have made changes to ensure more locally sourced revenue is spent where it comes from.' County Galway is expected to be an authority that requires equalisation meaning the LPT will amount to less than the baseline set out, and funding will be provided to them.


Dublin Live
a day ago
- Dublin Live
It will be hard to stop child homelessness topping 5,000, Housing Minister admits
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info Housing Minister James Browne has conceded that it will be difficult to stop the number of children living in emergency accommodation from rising above 5,000. The Department of Housing published its May homelessness report last week and recorded 4,844 children in emergency accommodation. This was an increase of 69 on the previous month. In total, homelessness figures for May stood at 15,747 people, another record increase. At a press conference after Tuesday's Cabinet meeting, Minister Browne acknowledged that the number of children considered homeless is increasing towards 5,000. He said: "Well, the sense of direction, unfortunately, has been upwards and we're very close to that 5,000. "I don't want to see that threshold crossed, but it's gonna be very difficult to prevent crossing over that 5,000, considering how close we are. We're going to look at more measures of how we can prevent that child homelessness. "We have seen a significant increase in homelessness. We're seeing a significant increase in people becoming homeless moving from IPAS centres. "We've got very different categories of how people are becoming homeless, some people who need real support from health services, mental health services. Then you'll have people coming from high IPAS who no longer have the ability to stay in our IPAS centre because they've been regulated and don't have anywhere to live. "Then you have families who are becoming homeless as well. We want to focus on those families and how we can increase those preventative measures for families going in and getting back out as quickly as possible." Minister Browne stated that 40 per cent of families moving into homelessness accommodation are the recipients of notices to quit, something he said will be protected by new Rent Pressure Zone Legislation. The Minister's comments on child homelessness were criticised by Sinn Féin's housing spokesman Eoin Ó Broin, who branded it an "utterly appalling admission of failure". He said: "Government have the power to take emergency action to tackle homelessness. That they choose not to take action is the reason why so many children are in emergency accommodation. They are not bystanders in this crisis." Elsewhere, Minister Browne confirmed reports in the Sunday Times suggesting that people will need to be considered habitual residents in Ireland to access social housing and emergency homeless accommodation. Mr Browne said that the Government will seek to pass legislation that it approved last year to "regularise habitual residents in this country who would be entitled to housing in line with the current rules around Social Protection and in line with European rules in relation to EU criteria." This, he said, will be done to "prioritise those who are actually living in the country". The Irish Mirror understands that additional proposals will go back to Cabinet in the coming weeks that will exempt children from the residency requirement and clarify that where an EU citizen is ineligible for social housing supports, the local authority is not required to provide homeless services. Under EU Law, a 'right to residence' for longer than three months is available to EU citizens who have sufficient resources for themselves and their family members not to become a burden on the host member state. The May homelessness report notes that 21 per cent of people in emergency accommodation were from the European Economic Area or the UK, while 28 per cent were non-EEA. The remaining 51 per cent were Irish citizens. Mr Browne said EU citizens who cannot financially support themselves will be returned home. However, he denied that this was an attempt to reduce the homelessness figures by removing non-Irish citizens from the list. He added: "We're talking about people who might have arrived in the country, who haven't been working here, who haven't been living here, and then seek social housing supports. It's people who have been here very, very short term." The Irish Mirror understands that the planned legislation will only be for new people coming into the system and anyone living in emergency accommodation will not be reassessed and it should not impact the current emergency accommodation figures. A Department of Housing spokesperson added: "Homelessness is a hugely complex issue and the Department does not speculate on fall or increase in numbers. "The information collected and published by the Department shows that there are many and varied reasons that households present to homeless services in local authorities and enter emergency accommodation. It is important that local authorities have a robust legal framework to assess households for homeless provision, and changes to the legislation are being considered on that basis." Join our Dublin Live breaking news service on WhatsApp. Click this link to receive your daily dose of Dublin Live content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice . For all the latest news from Dublin and surrounding areas visit our homepage.


Extra.ie
2 days ago
- Extra.ie
Housing Minister announces new measures to speeding up social homes
Developers who use the State's new standardised design templates for social homes will be granted planning permission 'an awful lot quicker', the Housing Minister has said. James Browne's comments came as he brought to Cabinet yesterday a suite of new measures aimed at speeding up the delivery of social homes. Among the plans approved by ministers is a proposal to condense the approval process for social housing projects from four stages to one. The measures will also mandate the use of specific design layouts for all new-build social housing projects being delivered by public bodies, to achieve 'value for money, and to promote greater use of Modern Methods of Construction' (MMC). Developers who use the State's new standardised design templates for social homes will be granted planning permission 'an awful lot quicker', the Housing Minister has said. Pic: Sam Boal/Collins Photo Mr Browne said yesterday that local authorities and approved housing bodies will be able to choose from a portfolio of 60 design templates, with the new arrangements to take effect from quarter three of this year. The Housing Minister said the designs are of 'very high quality' and will deliver 'uniformity' in the sector. 'Where delays come in [in social housebuilding] is where local authorities want a piece of vernacular, or want to change the number of windows, for example. That sounds fine except it leads to extraordinary delays, because then every window has to be measured by the Department of Housing. 'And I would be actually hoping that private builders would copy these designs as well, because they should be able to get through planning an awful lot quicker,' Mr Browne said. Pic: Getty Images The minister said that when the Government delivered large amounts of social housing in the past, there was a level of 'consistency' nationwide in terms of how the houses were designed. 'And that's really important for builders who want to tender for these projects, but also for MMC,' he said. MMC is a broad term that captures a diverse range of building processes and products. The term is generally used to describe construction which takes place in a factory setting as opposed to on-site. It includes the construction of full 3-D units or modules. According to Mr Browne, the widespread use of MMC will help speed up the delivery of housing and reduce the environmental impact of the residential construction sector. 'I believe that this can be a game changer in terms of that delivery from social housing,' he said.