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The Mayor of Limerick has accused the Government of underfunding local authorities as rising pension, homelessness and inflation costs put pressure on public services. Limerick County and City Council rejected a proposed 25 per cent increase in Local Property Tax for three years and instead approved a 15 per cent rise for next year. The mayor warned that reduced funding could lead to higher business rates, efficiency measures or service cuts.
Mayor of Limerick John Moran has accused the Government of underfunding local authorities, meaning they must increase local property tax es to maintain services. Moran saw a proposal to increase Local Property Tax in Limerick by 25 per cent for three years voted down by Limerick County and City Council this week; it instead chose to increase the levies by 15 per cent for next year.
In a letter to councillors before the vote, Moran said there was a “gross underfunding of local government by central Government” that is becoming “more and more clear to me each year as we do our budget process”. Central Government sets a basic rate of LPT, but councils have the power to adjust that based on local factors. They can vary LPT upwards by up to 25 per cent – and can lower it by up to 15 per cent.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Moran said that Limerick, along with other local authorities, was facing increased structural costs in pensions and providing homeless services, as well as grappling with general inflation. He accused the Government of leaving funding static: “Even though all our costs are going up, the Government said the baseline number is going to be exactly the same as last year.
” He said his proposal had been voted down after amendments put down by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil councillors, but said it would have added €1.7 million to LPT revenue – or around 10 per cent of its baseline funding from the Government. Without that revenue, he said the local authority would have to either levy increased rates on business, find efficiencies – which he suggested would not be easy – or cut back on services.
An analysis done by council officials suggests 90 per cent of properties in Limerick would see an increase of no more than 64 cent per week in LPT if it increased by 25 per cent.
“Unless we see extra money from Government ... we are going to be faced with some very hard decisions in Limerick and other local authorities as to how to keep services running at the same level as last year” A spokesman for the Department of Housing and Local Government said Limerick had received an increase in baseline funding of €1.1 million from 2026 onwards, and said that overall, the council’s LPT allocation increased from €19.7 million in 2023 to €22.7 million in 2026. “LPT baseline funding has therefore been increased twice within the past three years,” the spokesman said.
“Across Government, every effort has been made to provide support to the sector and, in 2024, funding from central Government to local authorities totalled around €8.6 billion,” he said, adding that this had increased 28 per cent since 2023 and central Government funding had more than doubled since 2019. Michael Collins, a Fianna Fáil councillor in Limerick, said Moran’s proposal had been rejected following a “decisive democratic vote”, saying the margin of 37 votes to two showed the opposition to the increase “extended well beyond any one particular grouping”.
“At a time when many families continue to face significant cost-of-living pressures, the overwhelming view of members was that maintaining the existing 15 per cent rate represented the most balanced and responsible approach,” he said. Fine Gael councillor John Sheahan said his group had “decided unanimously under the current climate nationally to keep the status quo”, adding that it was “not wholly a Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil position”.
He said that Moran “speaks of cuts to essential services following the property tax decision – how can this be in a budget of such largesse with an added €14 million of a mayoral fund for 2026 and another potential €8 million of an allocation for 2027? ”
Limerick Local Property Tax Government Funding Local Authorities Public Services
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