Laois councillors disagree on how to spend their pocket money

“The roads budget is the roads budget, and our discretionary funding is our discretionary funding, and it’s called that for a reason, and that’s so that we can give it to who we want,” said Independent Cllr Aisling Moran at the October meeting of Graiguecullen / Portarlington Municipal District.

Disagreement emerged during the meeting over the allocation of councillors’ General Municipal Allocation (GMA). The GMA is discretionary funding made available to councillors in each district to allocate to community projects and amenities in their areas.

The GMA per councillor will remain at €31,000 in 2027, confirmed Julie Bergin, Director of Finance at Laois County Council. According to Ms Bergin, on average, councillors allocated €16,000 to community projects and €15,000 to roads projects last year.

“We would be trying to encourage you to allocate as much of your allocation to roads as is possible,” she said. “But I suppose, look, it’s your discretionary fund at the end of the day, and it’s to agree where to spend it in your areas.”

Ms Bergin said she would obtain confirmation from the councillors individually on how they will allocate their discretionary funds in 2027.

Cllr Moran enquired about an increase in the GMA, asking: “There’s no chance of bringing it up to 35, Julie?”

Ms Bergin responded: “If you could tell me with what or from where, Aisling, I would gladly do it.”

Cllr Moran then explained why she did not feel compelled to allocate 50% of her GMA to roads projects.

“Well look, I personally, and I’ve had this argument at least a hundred times: our discretionary funding is our discretionary funding, and I’d like to keep it in the community.

“And if there’s something along the year that I feel needs to be done, I will allocate it to roads, like I will, I’ve done it all along.

“But in general, I’d like to keep mine for the community. When we’re putting work into the community, we’re getting a lot more work done, and housing estates are looking better and all of that.”

Cllr Paschal McEvoy commented that, last year, he decided to divide his GMA equally between roads and community projects, and he intends to replicate this approach this year. He acknowledged that “everyone’s entitled to do as they like,” but added: “I get phone calls, the same as everybody, from communities around the county looking for money. And they’re telling me that another councillor is after giving them X amount, and I have no money left, because I put my money into roads.” He advocated, in the interest of fairness, that the councillors agree on a uniform division of the GMA.

Cllr Aidan Mullins similarly spent half his GMA on roads and half on community projects, finding that he was “able to look after the community groups fairly well” with 50% of the fund. He said that he plans to allocate €20,000 to roads programmes next year. Cllr Mullins proposed that, when a councillor allocates money to a particular group, other councillors should refrain from contributing to that group.

Cllr Vivienne Phelan said “half and half” provides “good value for money,” and the chamber’s newest member Cllr Elva Kelly said she would seek advice from her fellow councillors and revert to Ms Bergin.

“At the end of the day, it’s your discretionary fund, but it is public money, to be spent in areas that meet the needs of the council,” Ms Bergin said, continuing that “there’s a lot of pressure on roads budgets.”

“I know you’ve a hard job Julie, I do understand that,” Cllr Moran said. “I understand you’re under a lot of pressure, but we’re kind of under a bit of pressure as well. And we will help where we can, and like I said, I’ll put my money into the community, but if I see the need along the way, I will allocate towards roads.”