Brewing discontent and disagreement within the ruling pact which dominates Galway City Council spilled into the public domain this week, with the mayor forced to use his casting vote to pass an increase in Local Property Tax.
With the city’s 18 representatives split 9 v 9 on a motion to adjust LPT rates by a maximum 15 per cent, Mayor Peter Keane (FF ) used his extra vote as chairman – a mechanism rarely used in City Hall – to raise property tax in the city for the first time since it was introduced 11 years ago.
Six members of the 10-strong Fianna Fáil-Labour-Sinn Feín-Independents ruling pact did not vote for the tax rise, while six non-pact councillors did support the measure which applies from 2025 to 2029.
Councillors Peter Keane (FF ), Níall McNelis (Lab ), Alan Curran (SD ), Eibhlin Seoige (SD ), Declan McDonnell (Ind ), Donal Lyons (Ind ), Terry O’Flaherty (Ind ), Frank Fahy (FG ), and Eddie Hoare (FG ) voted for a tax raise slated to bring in an extra €7m in income into the local authority which spends around €110 million each year to run the city.
Councillors Helen Ogbu (Lab ), John McDonagh (Lab ), Alan Cheevers (FF ), John Connolly (FF ), Josie Forde (FF ), Mike Cubbard (Ind ), Aisling Burke (SF ), Clodagh Higgins (FG ) and Shane Forde (FG ) voted against the tax hike, estimated to cost the majority of households in Galway up to 91 cents extra per week.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot, but for people who don’t have the price of a Mars bar at the end of each week, it is,” Councillor Mike Cubbard told the Advertiser after the Council’s special tax meeting. Cubbard had introduced an extra motion that no property tax adjustment would apply in 2025, but this was also defeated when Mayor Keane again used his casting vote to decide a 9 v 9 dead heat.
City officials said the tax rise will fund a number of specific infrastructure, sports, arts and community projects, including extending the opening hours of community centres across all three districts of the city.
The often heated tax meeting last Monday was followed later in the day by an ordinary council session during which the usually sanguine Galway City Chief Executive, Leonard Cleary, appeared to lose his cool when Councillor Shane Forde (FG ) talked about the desirability of an Afterschool Club in the new Community Hub in Ballybane.
“I am perplexed that a councillor at 1pm can be voting against raising resources, and then at 3.30pm can be asking for resources for specific capacity projects,” he said to the chamber of councillors, a number of whom loudly objected to the city manager’s comments, before Mayor Keane enforced some order on the meeting.
Both parties are killing each other in Leinster House this week, but in a rare moment of Fine Gael – Sinn Féin solidarity, Councillor Aisling Burke called Mr Cleary’s rebuke of Shane Forde “childlike”. The city manager later defended his comments with an assertion that he is entitled to express his frustration with elected members in a reciprocal manner, just as they express theirs with city officials, before Mayor Keane declared the matter closed.
Five months in as mayor, the Taylor’s Hill solicitor is winning quiet praise from political observers for his business-like approach to blustering politicians, yet members of his own Galway West Fianna Fáil organisation have been less complimentary. Disquiet about Keane’s role in securing the candidacy of broadcaster Gráinne Seoige to replace the retiring TD Éamon Ó Cuív has put some Soldiers of Destiny’s noses out of joint, with one Fianna Fáil insider saying Keane’s “bull-headed approach in lock-step with Galway City’s [chief executive] to raise household and commercial rates won’t help us on the doorsteps when we’re asking people to vote for a newsreader.”
Just like Fianna Fáil, only one member of the Labour Party’s councillors in the ruling pact voted for the tax increase. Its members said they had discussed the matter, and agreed to disagree. Deputy Mayor Níall McNelis issued a statement calling for a national Forum on the Financing of Local Government to be established, to determine a number of issues, including ring fencing local tax for local projects.
“How local government is funded a joke, and we can’t keep going to Dublin asking for money without showing them we are capable of using the mechanism [to raise income] we have here,” said McNelis, who noted not a single member of the public had made submissions to the Council on LPT, despite ads in local media for weeks.
It was also noted by observers that Fianna Fáil general election candidate in the City Council, Councillor John Connolly did not vote for the LPT raise, nor did Fine Gael’s Clodagh Higgins who is running in the Galway East Dáil constituency. No voters Councillors Ogbu (Lab ) and Cubbard (Ind ) are also expected to throw their hats in the Galway West ring for a November election.
