Draft Budget 2026 revealed for the Kildare-Newbridge MD

Proposed measures relating to the 2026 Draft Budget for the Kildare-Newbridge Municipal District (MD) led to a debate between councillors and Kildare County Council (KCC).

The matter was discussed at the latest MD meeting, which took place on Wednesday, October 15 last.

At this meeting, Eileen Hanlon, KCC's manager Finance, Digital Services, Innovation and Governance, noted that the Draft Budget had previously been circulated to councillors in accordance with legislation.

She told those in attendance that the Draft Budget saw an overall "positive" increase of €514,000.

Ms Hanlon specified that there was an increase seen in the areas of Local Property Tax (also known simply as LPT), street cleaning, playground maintenance, in addition to a small increase in funding for Tidy Towns groups within the MD.

However, she also noted that the paid parking budget "is a concern", and has seen an overall reduction of €386,000.

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"KCC has acknowledged that this [overall] decrease [in this area] in recent years." Ms Hanlon added. "We can expect a substantial increase in the costs due to the paid parking tender process."

Fine Gael Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer told KCC that she was concerned about the funds allocated to traffic calming measures in the Draft Budget: "€21,625 is too small in my view. There is €164,000 going into Public Realm / Maintenance... can we allocate a portion of that to the traffic calming section?"

Fianna Fáil Cllr Brian O'Loughlin voiced support for Cllr O'Dwyer's comments.

Another representative, Social Democrats Cllr Chris Pender, also welcomed her suggestion to reallocate some of the funds from the Public Realm team to traffic calming measures.

In turn, Fianna Fail Cllr Suzanne Doyle said that she agreed with the others, adding: "Towns in Kildare are growing and KCC's teams are being stretched. You need to ramp up [the] demand with supply."

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It was also suggested by Sinn Fein Cllr Noel Connolly to reallocate a portion of funds, €5,000, to Kildare town Heritage Centre from the Tidy Towns budget, instead of from the festivals section of the budget.

Ms Hanlon then explained to the members that two general operatives and one manager had been appointed to the Public Realm team at KCC.

She said that their appointments made up €94,000 of the Public Realm budget, which left €70,000 for purchasing equipment and supplies.

When Cllr Pender asked Ms Hanlon if the councillors can impact the programme costs (through proposed reallocations), she replied: "Yes, but you cannot limit what they /the staff] do."

After some back and forth dialogue between the councillors and KCC, and eventually, Cllr Doyle reminded those in attendance to keep in mind that this is a Draft Budget, and the proposed allocations and reallocations are not yet final (they will be finalised at the full KCC Budget meeting).

It was then proposed that a vote would take place: the councillors would vote for or against €164,000 being reallocated from Public Realm to the Local Area Office (roads maintenance) — with "all due diligence to be done" beforehand, Cllr Doyle added.

After the suggestion was put to a vote, it was accepted by the MD's councillors.

Another vote then occurred, which would decide whether or not €5,000 would be allocated from the Tidy Towns section to Kildare town Heritage Centre.

This vote was also passed by the MD's councillors.

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