Longford councillors pleased with allocation of extra €10,000 funding

Councillors approved and adopted the 2025 Longford Municipal District General Municipal Allocation plan with spending of €110,000 and there was a positive reaction to the extra funding.

John McKeon, the Head of Finance at Longford County Council said the allocation is a €10,000 increase on the amount received last year, which every area is benefitting from.

Mr McKeon confirmed the plan could be revisited and changes to the allocations could be made during the year at the discretion of the councillors.

A breakdown of the suggested allocations in the 2025 plan showed €6,000 will be spent on 'Town Twinning', a €950 increase on last year with €50,000 for 'Voluntary bodies', a €3,121 increase on 2024.

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Meanwhile, 'Tidy towns and Development Committees' and 'Art Activities' will receive €22,000 each respectively, €2,000 extra for both groups on last year.

Mr McKeon said €330,000 in total will be paid out to the three municipal districts in the local authority area.

He stated the applications for General Municipal Allocation plans had to be submitted by the end of April next year and the funding allocations are due to be received in May 2025, while groups will receive their funding by June 2025.

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Fine Gael Cllr Peggy Nolan proposed to adopt the General Municipal Allocation in full and she thanked Mr McKeon for his presentation.

"Bearing in mind that you did outline that money can be changed from one programme to another where required I don't think there is anything to be questioned. It's very comprehensive and something we look forward to," she added.

Meanwhile, Fianna Fáil representatives, Cllr Martin Monaghan and Cllr Kevin Hussey seconded the adoption of the plan.

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"This funding is specifically for the community and it is probably the only grant we have as councillors that we are able to give out to people in the MD area and I think it stands well and I'd like to see the increases there for the tidy towns and other groups," Cllr Monaghan added.

Mr McKeon said in respect of the 2024 General Municipal Allocation a total of €63,466 has been paid out to date, with a balance of €36,535 to be paid out.

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He stated under the 2024 plan there is a commitment to pay the remaining balance.