12 May 2020
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
Sinn Féin Leader on Cork City Council, Cllr Mick Nugent has said that the local authority will require stronger funding commitments from the government to cover a significant shortfall as a result of the Covid-19 emergency.
Councillor Nugent said;
“Local authorities throughout the state are experiencing serious funding shortfalls as a result of the Covid-19 crisis and Cork City Council is no different.
“The shortfall that the city faces is a result of a loss of revenue from a number of sources. Commercial rates obviously comes into the equation and it is clear that the three-month waiver being funded by the government will have to be extended.
“However, a significant portion of the shortfall for Cork City Council is coming from a big drop in non-rates revenue such as Car-parking charges, council rents and other fees. To date, there has been no additional central government funding allocated to cover this shortfall.
“Clearly, we need wider and stronger funding commitments from the government to fully cover the loss of revenue experienced as a result of the pandemic. There certainly cannot be any loss of staff or frontline services to plug the gap.
“Cork City Council needs financial certainty in order to deal effectively with the new and sudden challenges facing the city while also planning for the future. The government needs to give a commitment that the full shortfall will be covered for the remainder of 2020.”
