Ballymun-Finglas councillors want answers on figures suggesting low council investment in their area

Councillors for Ballymun and Finglas on Tuesday called for a meeting with the council’s chief executive, Richard Shakespeare, about the low level of council investment in capital projects in their areas.

At the monthly meeting of the full council on 13 April, Enda Currid, the council’s head of management accounting, had given a presentation on the council’s latest capital programme, its budget for big once-off projects.

That presentation included a breakdown of spending for each of the council’s five administrative areas. The North West Area, which includes Ballymun and Finglas, is set to get only 2 percent of spend, outside of housing, it said.

The South East Area, by contrast, which includes the Kimmage-Rathmines, Pembroke, and South-East Inner-City local electoral areas, is due to get 28 percent of capital spend outside of housing over that period, according to the presentation. 

Shakespeare, the chief executive, said, “Yep, in terms of investment, the North West doesn’t do well. I don’t know why.”

At the monthly meeting, councillors from across the city debated the planned distribution of capital spend geographically across the city and whether it is appropriate. 

On Tuesday, People Before Profit Councillor Conor Reddy tabled an emergency motion at the North West Area Committee, calling for  a meeting with Shakespeare, to discuss the area’s current and future needs. 

At that meeting, the motion said, Shakespeare should explain how the disparity arose, what steps will be taken to prevent it growing. 

As well as what measures can be taken to prioritise the North West Area for upcoming projects, “in light of the scale of need, historic disadvantage, and likely future population growth”.

Social Democrats Councillor Mary Callaghan said that, “I think we were all horrified that we were going to get 2 percent and other areas were going to get as high as 28 percent.” 

Digging into the numbers

However, Fianna Fáil Councillor Keith Connolly, chairing the meeting, said the figures in the presentation at the monthly meeting were “flawed”.

For starters, the other four council administrative areas have larger populations, Connolly said – and the 2 percent figure excludes spending on housing.

Per capita, the North West Area is still set to get the least non-housing capital spend, by far: €475 per person, compared to the South East Area’s €2,208 per person.

For all projects, housing and non-housing combined, the North West Area is top of the table, on a per capita basis, just ahead of the South Central Area.

That’s because the North West Area is set to get the highest spend per capita – by some distance – on housing.

Yes, more housing will bring to the area more people who want and need more of the once-off projects that the council funds through its capital programme, like sports centres, libraries, and markets.

But, Connolly pointed out, when private developers build big new housing projects, there can be “community gain” funds that come along with them. 

For example, the new Oscar Traynor Woods complex, in the neighbouring North Central Area, has come with a pot of about €7 million for projects for the surrounding area. 

Much of that money looks set to fund the council’s planned new Kilmore Recreation Centre, including a new swimming pool.

Jackie O’Reilly, the Ballymun area manager, said the presentation that showed the 2 percent figure for the North West Area was “misleading”. 

The area has had significant investment, O’Reilly said. 

She pointed to the North City Operations Depot, the council’s new “super depot”, which it spent about €74 million to build in the area, near Ikea. 

That depot consists of a four-storey office block, warehouses, workshops, car parks and more. The council planned to relocate almost 600 staff members from other, smaller depots to this new one.

(Of course, the council’s current capital programme includes the council’s plans to build a new headquarters, at Camden Yard, on Kevin Street, in the South East Area. Part of an approximately €580 million plan for that site which would also include housing.)

Listing off big recent-ish projects in the North West Area at Tuesday’s meeting, O’Reilly also mentioned the “Balbutcher-Hampton Road infrastructure project”, possibly referring to the Balbutcher Lane Junction Reconfiguration, near Hampton Woods Drive. 

“You also have the Sillogue infrastructure upgrade project,” she said, which “is ready for the housing coming in”. 

Councillors asked the council managers at the meeting to come back with more detailed figures that they could all dig into, to try to get a clearer picture of capital spending in the North West Area, and how it compares to other areas.

Promises, promises

Among the analyses they want to see, is one that looks not only at promised spend in the area over time, but actual spend in the area over time. 

Callaghan, the Social Democrats councillor, pointed, in particular, to the Finglas Village improvement scheme – meant to improve footpaths and cycle lanes there – which has been in six successive capital programmes, but hasn’t been built yet. 

So that should only be counted once, in the figures – it shouldn’t be counted as if it was new spend in each new capital programme. “That’s not extra,” she said. 

“I’d love to see what were we allocated and what did we actually spend,” she said. “As far as I can see what we were going to do we didn’t do, so there should be a huge shortfall going back in time as well.”

Bernard Kelly, executive manager, said that “They’re actually going to break ground on that this summer.”

Callaghan replied: “You have no idea how many years we’ve been hearing that.”

Kelly agreed to come back at next month’s area committee meeting with the additional figures and analyses the councillors had asked for. 

“If there is a huge disparity in spending in our area, compared to other areas, we absolutely have to do something about that,” Callaghan said.

The committee agreed to back Reddy’s motion.