Councillors across all parties voice concerns at Kildare Draft Budget 2022 Meeting

A number of councillors from a variety of political parties voiced concerns at the most recent Kildare County Council (KCC) Draft Budget 2022 Meeting earlier this week.

Social Democrats (SD) Cllr Nuala Killen said that while she and the rest of her party welcomed the news that Housing Adaptation Grants saw an increase, she emphasised that the SD do have concerns with overall funding from the council.

She also asked KCC to provide a timeline of funding for the future in order to better anticipate and follow where the funds are going to.

Shortly after this, Cllr Fiona McLoughlin-Healy questioned where KCC was getting funds from for its Twinning programme.

"I have looked for a report on this issue for two years now... there's only so many times I can ask" she told Kildare Mayor Naoise Ó Cearúil.

Despite Mayor O' Cearúil accusing the Newbridge Cllr of speaking over him when he tried to answer her query, he ultimately agreed with her and asked that a report on the council's Twinning programme should be presented by KCC.

Cllr McLoughlin-Healy enquired about where exactly the council received the funds in order to purchase the former Patrician Monastery in Newbridge.

She added: "I am delighted that the Monastery was sold, but we need sufficient insight into KCC's funds... in my view, we should adopt the open government approach as seen in the United States."

Mayor Ó Cearúil once more agreed with her, saying that it "should not be Fiona's job to chase these figures down."

Fianna Fáil member and Newbridge-Kildare Mayor Rob Power also told those in attendance that he feels that KCC "is struggling to deliver to those in the county."

He explained his view that street cleaning, the arts sector and a shopfront programme should receive extra focus from the council.

"Our climate emergency is not being addressed accurately in this budget either," he added.

Green Party Cllr Peter Hamilton agreed with Mayor Power, who said that "too many things relating to the environment are going into the capital section of KCC's Draft Budget," and expressed his wish for KCC to avoid "greenwashing."

As the meeting came to a close, SD Cllr Aidan Farrelly told those in attendance: "The only way we can solve this issues is by bringing them to national attention; only then will we properly address these issues and change them.

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