Wicklow County Council funding to be cut by €1.47million by Phil Hogan‏

Wicklow Sinn Féin Councillor John Brady, has said that Local Government Minister Phil Hogan is "attacking local democracy" by imposing further cuts in funding for councils, linking these cuts to the Household Charge.

Wicklow County Council has received confirmation from Minister Phil Hogan that the Local Government Fund paid to the Council is to be cut by €1.47million.

Cllr Brady said "Minister Hogan and his colleagues in the Fine Gael/Labour Coalition are mounting an assault on local democracy. By tying local government funding to the un-collectable and inequitable Household Charge the coalition is putting councils in an impossible financial position.

He is now going to impose further cuts in central government allocations for councils for the remainder of 2012.

At the time of Budget 2012 Sinn Féin said clearly that the cut to the Local Government Fund was unsustainable, that the Household Charge was unjust and would be widely boycotted and that by making local government dependent on receipts from the Household Charge, the coalition was going to undermine services across the board.

This is now taking place and it is citizens in Wicklow and across this State
who are paying the price for the coalition's dogged pursuit of a failed policy of austerity.

Cllr Brady concluded " Fine Gael/Labour are to cut the funding to Wicklow County Council by €1.47million for 2012, this is on top of previous cuts already imposed. This will have a direct impact on front-line services unless it’s rejected. I am asking for an emergency meeting of Wicklow County Council to be held to discuss the financial crisis that is now pending in Wicklow because of this attack on local
democracy inflicted by this Government."