Minister Joe O’Brien TD, announces additional funding of almost €1m to support the community function of local authorities

All 31 local authorities to benefit from Additional Staff Resource (ASR) funding
Funding will support the implementation and monitoring of Local Economic and Community Plans by local authorities

Minister Joe O’Brien TD, Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development has today announced an increase in funding of almost €1m to local authorities to support their community functions. This additional funding will in particular support the work of the Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs) through Additional Staff Resource (ASR) payments.

The allocation of additional funding arises from a comprehensive review of the work of the LCDCs. The review found that since their creation, the LCDCs have been performing an ever expanding range of functions and there was a clearly evidenced need for continued funding to support them in delivering upon their core work. ASR funding has been provided annually to the local authorities since 2017 as a contribution towards their community functions, and in particular the staffing of the LCDCs.

Minister O’Brien said:

The Department of Rural and Community Development has a clear, people-centred, mission: “To promote rural and community development and to support vibrant, inclusive and sustainable communities throughout Ireland”. I am pleased to be able to provide additional funding of almost €1m to assist the community function of all 31 Local Authorities nationwide supporting this mission and supporting rural and community development throughout the country.

The LCDCs are responsible for co-ordinating, planning and overseeing local and community development funding and bringing a more joined-up approach to the running of local and community development programmes and interventions. The LCDCs are also responsible for the management and oversight of significant programmes such as the social inclusion programme (SICAP) and the LEADER Rural Development Programme, in some areas. This increase in funding for the ASR brings the total annual funding to €2.9m. New allocations for each Local Authority for 2024 is set out below:

ASR Allocations 2024

County	Total Allocation amount
Carlow	€ 78,293.76
Cavan	€ 80,735.92
Clare	€ 85,080.29
Cork City	€ 110,974.92
Cork County	€ 108,369.28
Donegal	€ 106,000.11
Dublin City	€ 150,000.00
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown	€ 92,173.86
Fingal	€ 107,050.88
Galway City	€ 76,477.84
Galway County	€ 92,776.94
Kerry	€ 90,674.06
Kildare	€ 100.060.89
Kilkenny	€ 82,535.59
Laois	€ 82,206.54
Leitrim	€ 75,000.00
Limerick City and County	€ 112,050.37
Longford	€ 77,645.35
Louth	€ 97,487.80
Mayo	€ 91,600.29
Meath	€ 95,498.30
Monaghan	€ 76,558.06
Offaly	€ 84,126.89
Roscommon	€ 77,606.75
Sligo	€ 76,805.09
South Dublin	€ 135,472.25
Tipperary	€ 97,728.66
Waterford City and County	€ 91,878.11
Westmeath	€ 83,060.93
Wexford	€ 100.351.58
Wicklow	€ 88,718.69
Total	€ 2,905,000.00

Notes

Local Community Development Committees (LCDCs), as created under the Local Government Reform Act, 2014, bring together local authority members and officials, state agencies, people actively working within local development and community development and economic, cultural and environmental organisations with a view to implementing a joined-up, cross-sectoral approach to local and community development programming through the medium of a Local Economic and Community Plan (LECP).
DRCD has strategic responsibility for the local and community development governance structures introduced on foot of the local government reform process, namely the LCDCs and LECPs. This involves supporting the operation of the LCDCs and the development and implementation of the LECPs on an ongoing basis. In this context, DRCD provides annual financial support to local authorities to support their community function, including the work of the LCDCs.
The Additional Staff Resource (ASR) funding has been provided annually to the local authorities since 2017 to support the community function. The current ASR funds over 60 staff positions with a total fund of €2.11m in 2023.
Total ASR funding to the local authorities over the past five years, is set out in table below.

Year	Total Funding for LCDC
2019	€1.878m
2020	€2.058m
2021	€2.040m
2022	€2.040m
2023	€2.110m

A comprehensive review of the ASR funding commenced in autumn 2022 and recently concluded.
The ASR review itself was a recommendation of the LCDC Review published in 2019. The Review found that the LCDCs were performing an expanding range of functions, and that there is a well evidenced need to continue the funding to local authorities, in some form, but recommended changes to the allocation model. The focus in designing a new model was on providing maximum flexibility to local authorities whilst keeping the administrative and reporting burden to a reasonable minimum.
Additional funding was secured for the community policy vote (which includes ASR funding) for 2024 and this will be reflected in the allocations.