Cork City Council’s Finance Committee meets today (4pm) and is expected to set dates for a series of budget preparation meetings as huge cuts in Government funding for local councils loom.
Weekend newspapers report that the 870 million euro Local Government Fund may be cut by 87 million euro or 10% drastically reducing state funding for city and county councils around the state and putting a round of major cutbacks in social housing, bin services and road maintenance and repair onto the agenda.
Socialist Party councillor and Cork City Council Finance Committee member Mick Barry said this morning: “Housing waiting lists are at record levels, the city’s bin collection service is just hanging on by its fingertips and communities are trying to cope with a 10-year waiting list for traffic calming measures. Extra cutbacks in Council services will cut to the bone and cause lasting damage. I will fight against all these cuts and call on the local authority trade unions to abandon the Croke Park deal and lead the resistance to these measures.”
26th October, 2010
