Marianne Butler of the Green Party
Councillors in Dundalk have been told that the Town Council’s reserves cannot be ring-fenced for future use in the town once the council is abolished this summer.
The latest available figures show that Dundalk Town Council had €3.2m in reserve at the end of 2012. While that fund is likely to be less when the 2013 figures become available, it would still amount to a significant amount that could be spent in the town.
Dundalk Town Council will be abolished following May’s local elections, however, with Louth County Council taking over the running of the town and all other areas of the county that were previously not under its jurisdiction.
Green Party councillor Marianne Butler had requested that the money Dundalk had set aside be ringfenced for future use in the town rather than being used elsewhere in the county.
Despite receiving support from her fellow councillors on this matter, outgoing County Manager Philomena Poole told them that there was no legal basis by which she could do this.
She said that while she accepted the sentiment of Cllr Butler’s motion, she was unable to enforce it. Furthermore, Town Clerk Frank Pentony confirmed that all money in the town’s reserves would go into county council coffers once the Town Council was abolished.
Despite being shot down on the matter, Cllr Butler – who will be running in the local elections in May to retain her seat on the County Council – said she would be pursuing the issue further.
She told LMFM she would bring the matter to Louth County Council and added: “That money belongs to this area and should stay here.”
