COMHAIRLE CONTAE ÁTHA CLIATH THEAS
SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
MEETING OF SOUTH DUBLIN COUNTY COUNCIL
Monday, June 08, 2026
HEADED ITEM NO.
HEADED ITEM: Community Directorate
STANDING COMMITTEES ORGANISATION, PROCEDURE & FINANCE - FOR APPROVAL
(d) Local Priorities Fund
REPORT:
With the elected members' decision to apply a 7.5% reduction in Local Property Tax for 2026, a Local Priorities Fund totalling €1 million, equivalent to €25,000 per Councillor was approved at the Annual Budget Meeting in November 2025 to give Councillors the opportunity to fund specific projects in their local electoral areas (LEAs) in 2026.
A Local Priorities Fund Allocation Protocol (the protocol), as agreed between the executive and elected representatives, sets out the approval, drawdown, monitoring and reporting mechanisms to provide oversight on all expenditure under the fund.
At the April area committee meetings and in response to a request from Corporate, the elected members have provided feedback in relation to the operation of the protocol.
The feedback received indicates recurring concerns regarding the operation of the Local Priorities Fund. A consistent theme was that the eligibility criteria are considered overly restrictive, particularly the reliance on PPN registration, which was viewed as excluding a range of local groups that councillors had expected would benefit from the scheme.
There was also concern that, while the Fund had been presented as councillor-led, in practice members felt they had limited discretion, with proposals subject to significant filtering or refusal at administrative level.
A further issue raised was the difficulty in identifying suitable projects that both meet the stated criteria and can be progressed within the available timeframe. This is compounded by uncertainty regarding the interpretation of the protocol, including whether funding could be used for feasibility studies, pooled projects, or cross-LEA initiatives.
Operational issues were also highlighted, including delays in receiving responses on the viability of proposals and uncertainty regarding payment and drawdown arrangements, which were seen as increasing the likelihood of underspend.
In addition, some members raised political and ethical concerns about the perception of directing funding to particular groups.
Having considered the feedback from members, it is proposed that the following changes are made to the Local Priorities Fund Allocation Protocol:
- Remove the requirement for organisations to be PPN registered, this will mean that residents groups and schools could be supported through the fund
- Provide for once off ex gratia payments, up to a maximum of €5,000, to be made to organisations to contribute to their running costs (excluding staff costs)
- Provide for payments to be made to projects/organisations outside the LEA, where it is shown that there is a benefit within the LEA.
A draft revised Local Priorities Allocation Protocol has been prepared and and presented to the members for consideration at the May OP&F meeting.
At that meeting the revised protocol as presented was agreed by the members subject to amending the closing date for receipt of applications under the protocol from 30 September 2026 to 31 October 2026.
This is now before the full Council for final approval.