Fund levels unknown days before budget due

Environment Minister Phil Hogan is to be told “it’s simply not good enough” that, just days before Cork County Council’s annual budget meeting, its manager still does not know what level of grant will come from central Government.

The mayor of Co Cork, Fine Gael councillor Noel O’Connor, said yesterday he would immediately contact his minister to express concern about the delay in revealing the amount of Local Government Grant due to the council for 2014.

Fianna Fáil councillor Alan Coleman described the delay as “totally frustrating” and said it made county manager Martin Riordan’s job of balancing the books extremely hard, especially as the 2014 budget was to be discussed on Friday.