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Local government funding in Ireland: Contemporary issues and future challenges

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  • Turley Gerard

    (J. E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, and Whitaker Institute for Innovation and Societal Change, NUI Galway, Ireland)

  • McNena Stephen

    (J. E. Cairnes School of Business and Economics, and Whitaker Institute for Innovation and Societal Change, NUI Galway, Ireland)

Abstract

The years since the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent economic crash have witnessed significant changes to the funding of the local government system in Ireland. This paper outlines these developments, while, at the same time, exploring some of the most important future challenges relating to the financing of Irish local authorities. The dominant local government revenue issues of the last decade outlined here are fiscal autonomy and the balance between own-source income and central government grants, income differences between urban and rural councils, the Local Property Tax, changes in commercial rates and fiscal equalisation. In terms of fiscal dependency and equalisation, our findings show reductions in the vertical and horizontal fiscal imbalances in the Irish local government system. Likely future challenges include the need to re-examine the balance between business taxes and non-business taxes, funding the expected growth in metropolitan areas and the financing options for capital investment by local authorities, including consideration of municipal bond issuance for the Greater Dublin Area.

Suggested Citation

  • Turley Gerard & McNena Stephen, 2019. "Local government funding in Ireland: Contemporary issues and future challenges," Administration, Sciendo, vol. 67(4), pages 1-26, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:admini:v:67:y:2019:i:4:p:1-26:n:1
    DOI: 10.2478/admin-2019-0024
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    File URL: https://doi.org/10.2478/admin-2019-0024
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gerard Turley & Stephen McNena, 2016. "An Analysis of Local Public Finances and the 2014 Local Government Reforms," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 47(2), pages 299-326.
    2. Charles M. Tiebout, 1956. "A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(5), pages 416-416.
    3. Robin Boadway & Anwar Shah, 2007. "Intergovernmental Fiscal Transfers : Principles and Practice," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7171.
    4. Turley Gerard & McNena Stephen & Robbins Geraldine, 2018. "Austerity and Irish local government expenditure since the Great Recession," Administration, Sciendo, vol. 66(4), pages 1-24, December.
    5. Gerard Turley & Darragh Flannery & Stephen McNena, 2015. "A Needs and Resources Assessment of Fiscal Equalisation in the Irish Local Government System," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 46(3), pages 459-484.
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    Cited by:

    1. Turley Gerard, 2022. "A review of Ireland’s Local Property Tax," Administration, Sciendo, vol. 70(4), pages 1-25, December.

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