Director of Finance, Mr. Sean Mullarkey, presented the Unaudited Annual Financial Statements for 2025 in detail, in particular the Income and Expenditure Account and the Transfers between the Revenue Account and the Capital Account.

Members raised the following points:

·        Queries regarding the reported over expenditure of €10 million.

·        Queries on the number of outdoor staff to be recruited following recent advertisements.

·        Acknowledgement that the Council’s overall financial position remains healthy.

·        The increase to €250,000 for Unfinished Housing Estates was welcomed, with queries as to whether costs could be recouped.

·        Concerns regarding rising costs, particularly in the Roads section, and the impact on delivery of the Roads Programme.

·        Queries regarding the percentage of uncollected rates.

Director of Services, Ms. Caitlín Conneely, advised that outdoor staff recruitment will be dependent on vacancies as they arise.

Mr. Mullarkey clarified that the overspend reflects spend of additional funding allocations in certain areas rather than overspending of the Council’s own resources. He noted that staffing levels, particularly in outdoor staff, remain a challenge, with further clarity expected following completion of the Uisce Éireann staffing programme. He further advised that approximately €1 million in rates is written off annually in respect of vacant units, with a collection rate of approximately 92% from a total of €12 million deemed collectable.

In relation to Unfinished Housing Estates, Mr. Mullarkey advised that cost assessments have been carried out for approximately 50 outstanding estates, noting that some will be particularly challenging to complete, and may be beyond the Council’s current financial capacity. Expenditure incurred cannot be recouped. He noted that the majority of such estates are located in the Boyle Municipal District and are not “ghost estates” but require taking in charge. Annual funding has increased from €150,000 to €250,000, and progress is ongoing. He also indicated that borrowing for such works would be difficult, given the nature of the projects and existing loan commitments for regeneration, while bonds for new developments fall under planning.

Chief Executive, Mr. Shane Tiernan, added that Unfinished Housing Estates represent a significant cost to the Council with complex infrastructure connections required. He encouraged Members to make representations to central Government seeking additional funding.

On the PROPOSAL of Cllr. Fitzmaurice

               SECONDED by Cllr. Keogh

It was AGREED to write to the Minister to request for the provision of the recoupment of costs incurred by the by Local Authority in taking in charge unfinished housing estates.

Roscommon County Council, like most other Local Authorities, now has a list of housing developments, including unfinished housing developments, where the residents have requested, in accordance with the relevant legislation, that their housing estate be taken in charge by the LA. In many cases, the development bond is either not available or is insufficient to meet the current cost of carrying out the extent of works required. This has left LAs with a significant financial burden, of the order of several million euro in Roscommon’s case, through no fault of the LA or the residents. The members of Roscommon County Council are calling on the Minister to provide a funding scheme to allow Local Authorities to recoup expenditure, over and above the recoverable bonds, involved in the construction works (both LA and Usice Eireann) required to bring housing developments to an acceptable “taking-in-charge” standard.

On the PROPOSAL of Cllr. Keogh

               SECONDED by Cllr. Fitzmaurice

It was AGREED to write to the Minister to express concern regarding the lack of progress with the taking in charge of unfinished housing developments due to issues with Developer provided Infrastructure (DPI). This is exasperated by the length of time that resolution is taking, meaning that many developments have DPI that are now at or nearing end of life stage. This has many potential implications, not least of which is on the existing residents and property owners in the estates.

DPI developments include the following:

• housing estates in towns where the solution is likely to be to connect directly to the Uisce Éireann network and decommission the DPI;
• housing estates located in smaller rural settlements, outside the Irish Water network agglomerations, served by small Package Treatment Plants; and
• small housing estates in rural townlands or hinterlands relying primarily on private systems or septic tanks which may never be able to connect directly to the Irish Water network i.e. are too remote to do so due to their geographical location.

The members were disappointed that DPI developments in Roscommon were not prioritised or included, to any significant extent, in the Multi-Annual Developer Provided Water Services Infrastructure Resolution Programme to date.

The members noted that, since 1 January 2024, Uisce Éireann, as the national water authority, is responsible for the progressive remediation and resolution of DPI infrastructure nationally. In this regard, the members are calling for a significant step up in the pace of delivery of the remediations and resolutions in County Roscommon, and the provision of the associated funding requirements, as a matter of priority and urgency.