Mayo councillor fears funding announcement is an 'election gimmick'

A FIANNA Fáil councillor has questioned if the funding announcement of major capital projects in Ballintubber and Ballyhaunis is an election gimmick.

It was announced before Monday's monthly meeting of Mayo County Council that significant funding was allocated to Ballintubber Abbey and the old convent school in Ballyhaunis under the Rural Regeneration Development Fund.

Ballintubber Abbey was allocated €5,842,678 for the restoration of the East Wing of the 800 year old Abbey which will house a three floor cultural and heritage based visitor attraction that will tell the story and history of Ballintubber Abbey.

The Ballyhaunis Community Vision was allocated €5.3 million which will adapt a derelict convent primary school building and its grounds within the Ballyhaunis town centre to provide a public library, enterprise hub and a public park with pedestrian links to the main business and retail core of the town.

The announcement was welcomed at the monthly meeting by local Fine Gael councillors John Cribbin and Cyril Burke who thanked local TD and Minister of State, Alan Dillon for prioritising the projects.

However, Castlebar-based Fianna Fáil councillor Blackie Gavin questioned if the announcement was just an election gimmick because Mayo County Council will have to make a contribution in order for the funding to be drawn down.

“I welcome the funding for Ballintubber but is it an election gimmick? I think it is a gimmick. It is great to get €5 million for the Castlebar MD but I am awfully afraid we will never see it along with the other projects. We are banging our head against the wall and it is time a lot of the capital projects are rolled out in this county,” he said, citing similar funding announcements for projects in Castlebar which have not yet been delivered.

In order to draw down funding for capital projects, local authorities have to make a 25 percent matching funding contribution which Peter Duggan, the Head of Finance in Mayo County Council admitted is a 'significant burden' on the council's finances. Last year, the council borrowed €11 million in order to meet its matching funding contributions.

Sinn Fein councillor Gerry Murray said that the matching funding contribution was a 'a very cynical ploy' by the Government because rural council's struggle to raise the funding for them.

“The local authorities along the east coast can easily come up with the 25 percent while down here we struggle to come up with it because we have a much lower revenue stream coming into this county. It is absolutely outrageous and the department and government know the borrowing capacity for rural local authorities isn't infinite. They know the urban local authorities have a huge advantage over us and can draw down far more money. That is the government's decision and not the [council] executive and that needs to be changed dramatically,” he said.

Chief Executive of Mayo County Council, Kevin Kelly said that a senior engineer will be appointed to head up a team to deal with the Ballintubber and Ballyhaunis projects to help deliver them.