dlr County Council adopts Annual Budget for 2024 of €275m

• Council adopts balanced budget at meeting on 28 November
• A significant expansion across all services including high priority areas of housing, transportation, parks, libraries and other recreational areas.

Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council (dlr) is pleased to announce the adoption of its Budget 2024, which allocates €275 million for the provision of essential services to residents, businesses, and visitors in the county. The Budget was unanimously approved by the elected members of dlr and represents an increase of over €38 million from the previous year.

Speaking of the adoption of the Budget, Frank Curran, Chief Executive, Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council said:

"I am pleased that this expansionary Budget for 2024 has been adopted by our elected members.  Quality public service delivery to our many and varied stakeholders remains a key priority for dlr. This adopted budget for 2024 ensures that available funding is distributed equitably and in a way that enables us to continue to realise our corporate goals."

The annual revenue Budget encompasses a wide range of services, including road, cycle lane, and footpath maintenance, energy-efficient streetlighting, parkland enhancement, sports and community facility development, biodiversity and heritage initiatives, as well as grants for local businesses. Moreover, the budget ensures the maintenance and repair of the Council's assets, including houses, corporate buildings, parks & playgrounds, and Dún Laoghaire Harbour.

Expansion of services

There will also be an increase in several budget areas that are subject to high demand including housing maintenance, footpath repairs, road patching programme, flood alleviation and gully repairs. Due to the increasing number of housing units owned and managed by dlr, the budget for housing maintenance contracts and management fees has been increased. In addition, the budget for energy retrofitting of Council houses has also been increased as has the budget for the Housing Adaption Grant Scheme.

Our parks department has the second largest budget which has also seen a increase this year. Funding has been included for the opening of a new library in Ballyogan in 2024 and the book purchase budget has also received additional funding. The parks budget has also been increased to fund additional initiatives including wildfire management, management of new parks and pitches in Cherrywood, a sensory garden for people with additional needs as well as other new grass and all-weather pitches countywide.

Other initiatives that will see an increase are tourism development & footfall initiatives, Dún Laoghaire Harbour Masterplan, expansion of the 30km street scheme and the provision of homeless services.

dlr currently provides over 700 different services to the residents, businesses, and visitors in the county and the adopted budget recognises the Council's commitment to delivering a vibrant, accessible, and inclusive county that supports physical and economic development.

In preparing the dlr Annual Budget, the Council is obliged to adopt a balanced budget. We must consider, hand in hand with our statutory obligations, our delivery of the Councils corporate objectives and balance the varied needs of everyone in our area. This is an in-depth process, involving many months of consideration due to the amount of service areas that the Council are involved in.

For reference to the figures debated by Councillors at the Budget meeting please see the draft Annual Budget 2024 here. This will be superseded shortly by a finalised Adopted Budget Book 2024.