Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 January 2026
392. Deputy Cathy Bennett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount each council has spent on tourism in 2023, 2024 and 2025; the amount they have budgeted for 2026, by council, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1756/26]
View answerLocal authorities are independent in the discharge of their functions and the directly elected members are democratically accountable for all expenditure of their authority.
The Local Government Act 2001, as amended by the Local Government Reform Act 2014, provides the legislative basis for the local authority budget process. It is a matter for each local authority to determine its own spending priorities in the context of the annual budgetary process having regard to both locally identified needs and available resources.
My Department compiles and publishes consolidated local authority annual data based on the statutory revenue budgets adopted by each local authority. Consolidated data in respect of local authority budgets for 2026 is not yet available in my Department, as it is currently being compiled and will be published in due course.
Material in respect of previous years, up to 2025, is available at the following link;
The provision of detailed information on income and expenditure is a matter for each individual local authority. Local authority gross expenditure is published annually by local authorities in their Annual Financial Statements (AFS) and this information, as well as budget documents and other information on the cost of their services, is generally available on each individual local authority’s website. Each local authority is required to prepare an AFS by the end of March following year end and to publish it by the end of June. These financial statements undergo an independent audit by the Local Government Audit Service. When all audits are complete, my Department publishes a consolidated Annual Financial Statement, compiled from the AFS published by each local authority.
This can be found on my Department’s website at the following link: [www.gov.ie/en/collection/e103b-local-authority-annual-financial-statements/].
The total amount spent on tourism by local authorities is not available in my Department but it may be available from individual local authorities. However, the amount of local authority expenditure on ‘Tourism Development and Promotion’ only for 2023 and 2024, which is taken from Appendix 2 of the AFS data for each local authority, is set out in the table below. 2024 is the latest year for which audited figures are available. These figures represent day to day (current) expenditure only. They represent costs associated with tourism promotion as well as costs associated with the operation, management, and maintenance of tourist facilities. They do not reflect any capital expenditure on tourist facilities.
|
Local Authority |
AFS 2023 Tourism Development & Promotion Expenditure |
AFS 2024 Tourism Development & Promotion Expenditure |
|
Carlow County Council |
€125,161 |
€155,000 |
|
Cavan County Council |
€893,286 |
€1,040,723 |
|
Clare County Council |
€28,385,117 |
€31,215,496 |
|
Cork City Council |
€1,247,317 |
€1,336,009 |
|
Cork County Council |
€1,774,677 |
€1,924,845 |
|
Donegal County Council |
€1,507,236 |
€1,735,436 |
|
Dublin City Council |
€9,349,444 |
€9,667,773 |
|
Dun Laoire/Rathdown County Council |
€638,517 |
€881,821 |
|
Fingal County Council |
€606,639 |
€858,279 |
|
Galway City Council |
€991,953 |
€522,883 |
|
Galway County Council |
€417,855 |
€549,261 |
|
Kerry County Council |
€1,775,596 |
€2,228,554 |
|
Kildare County Council |
€305,900 |
€495,096 |
|
Kilkenny County Council |
€1,656,565 |
€1,987,718 |
|
Laois County Council |
€273,529 |
€297,425 |
|
Leitrim County Council |
€524,734 |
€577,534 |
|
Limerick City & County Council |
€2,767,303 |
€3,573,955 |
|
Longford County Council |
€301,848 |
€488,400 |
|
Louth County Council |
€1,219,405 |
€1,252,196 |
|
Mayo County Council |
€1,443,559 |
€1,595,941 |
|
Meath County Council |
€388,091 |
€459,241 |
|
Monaghan County Council |
€572,086 |
€397,843 |
|
Offaly County Council |
€407,331 |
€524,699 |
|
Roscommon County Council |
€374,155 |
€431,492 |
|
Sligo County Council |
€304,239 |
€616,653 |
|
Sth Dublin County Council |
€2,128,201 |
€3,182,991 |
|
Tipperary County Council |
€796,565 |
€951,090 |
|
Waterford City & County Council |
€2,230,552 |
€2,431,098 |
|
Westmeath County Council |
€538,345 |
€762,062 |
|
Wexford County Council |
€368,690 |
€210,330 |
|
Wicklow County Council |
€597,767 |
€777,816 |
|
Total |
€64,911,663 |
€73,129,660 |
