*Cllr PJ Ryan (IND) & Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND). Photograph: Natasha Barton
AS THE COUNTDOWN begins to the local elections on June 7th, The Clare Echo this week examines one of the subjects causing debate among county councillors, the General Municipal Allocation.
This year’s Adopted Budget in the County Council includes a General Municipal Allocation of €1.37m in total, an increase of €364k on the 2023 provision. This fund is used by elected members of the Council to benefit community and voluntary organisations. The GMA was introduced following the reform of the Local Government Act in 2014.
Local councillors have previously stated that for every €1 spent on the GMA it resulted in a €3 benefit for the local community.
A lengthy debate ensued at Tuesday’s meeting of the Shannon Municipal District over the “surplus” of the General Municipal Allocation (GMA) for one elected representative.
When it came to passing the Shannon MD small community grant scheme, there was much greater discussion on the GMA contribution of Cllr Gerry Flynn (IND).
Acting senior executive officer in the Shannon MD, Anne Griffin explained that the scheme was funded annually through a portion of the GMA. It has a total budget of €20,000 with a maximum allocation of €1,000. 29 groups benefitted from the grants, last year. “The main thrust of the scheme is giving a helping hand to our organisations and groups”.
She advised the meeting that a portion of Cllr Flynn’s GMA will go towards Shannon Athletics Club, Shannon Handball Club and St Senan’s Rugby Club.
Addressing the meeting, Cllr Flynn said, “I didn’t ask for this to be publicised today” and labelled it as “regrettable the unwelcome attention that has come on top of us”. He claimed Executives in the Council management have “come down hard on us” and described their actions as “OTT”.
He continued, “it took away the spirit of what we were doing since 2014, none of us were involved in the Prime Time programmes to say we didn’t know where we were at a particular time or doing anything untoward”. Flynn said, “the intention was for elected representatives to have autonomy for their spend, that has been taken away”.
Several councillors including Cllr PJ Ryan (IND), Cllr Donna McGettigan (SF), Cllr Michael Begley (IND) and Cllr Pat O’Gorman (FF) were left confused as to why Cllr Flynn’s GMA was connected to the scheme. “Every elected member now has to disclose where they are putting their money,” Cllr Flynn said, “I’ve received legal advice, the Council’s budget is gone out of control and they don’t micro-manage but they expect us to”.
Clarity and accountability exists with the GMA, Cllr Pat McMahon (FF) maintained, “From day one I thought anybody who wants to find out what we can give to clubs or organisations it can be found out, there is no hidden agenda”.
Councillors could be put in a tricky position as a result of the funds available to Cllr Flynn according to Cllr Ryan. “If somebody says to me, how come you hadn’t €6,500 to give to an organisation that Cllr Flynn did. If Cratloe GAA club asks me for €6,500 where do we stand”.
Ms Griffin responded, “The grant scheme is a contribution to other bodies and groups, in the same vein that is what Cllr Flynn is doing but separately”.
“What we’re doing is breaking the rules in all due respect,” claimed Cllr O’Gorman. He said the actions of Cllr Flynn were “outside of the rules”. This view was rejected by Cllr Flynn, “That is not fair. I never asked what you did with rest of money, I never asked ye”. Cllr Ryan interrupted, “It is public knowledge” to which Cllr Flynn insisted, “I didn’t make this issue”.
Queries on the accumulation of funds and monies for the three clubs were then put forward by Cllr Ryan. The meeting was then told that €15,000 will go to Shannon Athletics Club, €13,000 to Shannon Handball Club and €5,000 to St Senan’s RFC through Cllr Flynn’s GMA, “I know I have a balance from other years that has been given to Tom for road issues,” he explained.
“We’re now going to be asked why we can’t give the funding,” Cllr McGettigan responded. “The thrust many years ago was to help as many clubs. No way a smaller club can fund or gather the money, it really keeps them going. Bigger clubs have different avenues of funding,” said Cllr McMahon.
Opportunities to help smaller clubs has been the focus of the GMA, Cllr John Crowe (FG) commented. “The €1000 is keeping them ticking over for the year to do A, B and C. All we’re trying to do is help small groups in our community to keep the show on the road, that is the way I’ve always seen it”. A distinction on the approach of Cllr Flynn is needed, Cllr Begley asserted.
Director of Services, Alan Farrell told the meeting the advice was issued by the Head of Finance which was followed by the SEO “if giving contributions to other bodies or a group outside of the Council”. Rules have suddenly changed after ten years, Cllr Ryan said.
Cllr O’Gorman proposed the small community grant scheme but not the inclusion of Cllr Flynn’s GMA which prompted the Shannon representative to warn, “if I don’t get approval the clubs will be out of business”.
Procedures must be followed, Cllr Begley insisted. “We all have to follow a procedure as to how the money is paid out. It has to come in an application to the MD. It isn’t as if some of us are going around writing cheques for community groups. There is nothing secret or behind the scenes wrong with it”.
“Everything has been done above board,” Cllr Flynn responded. His plea for support led to Cllr Ryan asking if they were creating a precedent and Cllr Begley to propose deferring Cllr Flynn’s proposal.
In response, Cllr Flynn asked, “What do I tell to people with contractors on site” and Begley replied, “You always have to have money spent before we get it. If we’ve to go through down that route, all seven of us should have items to be approved”.
Cllr McMahon said he had no objection to the three clubs put forward by Cllr Flynn but said “it is a different scenario”.
Cllr McGettigan then proposed a special meeting to specifically debate the Flynn contribution which was seconded by Cllr Begley. “I would say and I’d be sitting down with Tom (Mellett) to iron out spend of GMA. I had a surplus to deal with,” Cllr Flynn said.
Mention of the word surplus suddenly managed to calm down councillors. “That word levels the pitch for us all,” remarked Cllr Ryan. He added, “After saying the word surplus we can deal with it,” he added.
The scheme and contributions were then proposed and seconded by Cllr McGettigan and Cllr O’Gorman.
