Cllr Ciaran Brogan, leader of Fianna Fail on the council
Breaking News: THE following is a statement just released by Fianna Fail tonight:
Fianna Fail is not in a position to support this Budget.
We have worked tirelessly over the last number of weeks to look for the positives contained within this Budget book and unfortunately the negative aspects which this budget will inflict upon the people do not allow us to be in a position to support a Budget which includes no extra provision for our Roads within our County.
As well as the fact that year on year we do not have enough money to maintain our Housing stock.
We do not believe that the Budget before us here today goes far enough in providing for the tenants and road users within our County.
This is all happening while we are prepared to simply give away assets within our County to the value of €355 million.
We feel this is unjust and are dissatisfied that we as members of this authority have not been fully informed as to the circumstances of this give away.
The fact the Water function has been taken away from Donegal County Council is a massive cause of concern for us.
We find ourselves with a Minister who is not prepared to listen to anyone even his own Party members where he was begged to desist from basically privatising the Water Function.
This culminating in Phil Hogan ramming legislation through the Daíl & Seanad where he wasn’t even prepared to listen to opposition thoughts or consider amendments which they wished to make.
This is simply undemocratic and the fact that our President had to sign the bill into law on Christmas Day shows the audacity and level of contempt which this Government has shown to the People of Ireland.
In Donegal water is a huge resource which we value and have invested in as a Council and as a people over a long number of years, through huge capital investment and many group water schemes throughout a huge rural County providing a quality service to our People.
As of the 1st of October this year everyone will be charged for water without proper discussion with the public.
We are informed that our assets have been valued at €355 million and that the debts which we have on the assets is €48 million for this year we are being allocated €29 million from Irish water towards 219 staff, for the running, maintaining and the billing of our water services.
This we are told is to be reviewed next year but from October Irish Water will take over all of the billing and control of our Water Service.
This is not Putting People First as this Government pretends to be doing.
There are huge concerns out there from our people on the ground because of the recruitment embargo in place where we are unable to provide a proper service.
We have asked to meet Irish Water and feel that by Irish water not meeting with the Elected Council shows us that the service delivery will be secondary and that profits will be the central issue within this new regime.
Our 219 staff members working within the water Section are still unsure as to where they stand in this whole situation and the public simply don’t know who to contact if there is a burst and indeed are of the opinion that if they contact Irish Water that they will be charged for doing so.
Whilst we are disappointed that the Budget book does not provide enough for Donegal we feel it would be disingenuous of us to support a budget which does not provide enough funding from this Government to adequately service the County.
Nobody can deny the fact that our roads infrastructure is suffering massively from the cut backs being brought to bear upon Donegal by this Government.
At a time when we should be investing more in our roads to bring them up to an acceptable standard as well as provide employment for our citizens we find that our Government is intent on cutting and scrapping revenue streams for our Roads network.
The Eu Co-Financed scheme which was so important to the strategic routes within our County has been scrapped, The LIS programme as been done away with, Our allowance from the NRA has been halved this Year alone.
We simply cannot stand for this.
The burden upon the retail and commercial sector across our County has not been adequately supported in this Budget book this despite the fact that The Minister has asked each Council to reduce the Rates on business’s.
We hear on a daily basis how the public have difficulties accessing this Council by telephone as well as many other problems which have not been addressed within this Budget Book.
We have a massive shortage of Money to deal with maintenance of our Housing Stock and again this matter has not been addressed within the Budget Book.
We are resolute in the opinion that more Money must be provided for Housing and that more resources must be afforded to this section.
We the Fianna Fail party are taking a stand on behalf of the People of Donegal who are burdened beyond their means with bills from this Government.
We cannot ask people to pay for water which is being delivered through an inadequate infrastructure where they simply cannot afford to do so.
With the Water function being taken away from the Council, Irish Water will have the power to increase the cost of Water Year on Year and we cannot and will not stand for that. We have always tried to be prudent and measured during the Budgetry process and this time we are no different.
We will be voting against the budget because we believe it to be in the best interest of Donegal and it’s People as we cannot support the measures being introduced within the Budget book.
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