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Cork City Council faces administration if a budget isn't passed within two weeks

It is believed the last time a Budget struggled to be passed was 1991.

CORK CITY COUNCIL faces being put into administration if a budget isn’t passed within the next two weeks.

Councillors last night voted against the city’s budget for 2015.

After five hours of talks, councillors twice rejected the proposals by 15 votes to 14.

If the council does not agree on a budget within the next 14 days, the council will be dissolved and run directly by the Minister for the Environment for the next five years.

 

Fianna Fáil councillor Fergal Dennehy, whose party holds the most seats on Cork City Council, pointed the finger of blame at Sinn Féin.

“It should be pointed out that they have opposed every budget that I am aware of since I entered the council in 2003, even in times when massive funding was being allocated to local government, party policy didn’t allow them to engage,” he wrote on Facebook.

“The difficulty now is that SF actually have a considerable voice in Cork City Council. If this trend continues into national politics we will have an establishment that will be so afraid to make an unpopular decision that they wont make any decisions at all.”

Sinn Féin councillor Stephen Cunningham took to Twitter last night to voice his opposition to what the party is calling an austerity budget.

Read: Another council has voted in favour of abolishing water charges >

More: Kerry wants to become an island if the roads aren’t fixed >

Who’s who: Who is your new local councillor? Here’s a list of everyone elected >

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23 Comments
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    Mute Adam Walsh
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    Nov 18th 2014, 8:44 AM

    SF will dissolve every council in the country given the chance, will voters ever cop on to them
    before its too late.

    105
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    Mute Ahippo
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    Nov 18th 2014, 9:06 AM

    The smart thing for the council’s to do is let SF force their dissolution and then make sure to keep reminding people that SF created the problem.

    44
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    Mute Nash Bridges
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    Nov 18th 2014, 10:39 AM

    Would probably be better of if it were run remotely for 5 years. Cork city council charge extortionate rates to city centre businesses and then waste it on putting traffic lights where once functioning roundabouts were. Prime example is where Laura “Rainwater” McGonagle spent €1.1m on replacing the Well Rd roundabout with a traffic jam.

    70
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    Mute Tom Callaghan
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    Nov 18th 2014, 11:12 AM

    See what the council did In ballincollig spent millions on putting in 22 sets of traffic lights on the same street, bloody idiots, also they want to toll the tunnel fcuk me they deserve to be run out of there…fg and ff brainless muppets new blood is needed badly

    35
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    Mute Kevin Burke
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    Nov 18th 2014, 6:25 PM

    Ballincollig is in the Co Council.

    6
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    Mute Eugene Walsh
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    Nov 18th 2014, 8:43 AM

    Cork city council has the vision of a bat.
    You could give them a huge budget and they’d still F it up. The most important project for the city is the entertainment center and they are still dithering on it 12 yrs after it was first proposed.
    They’re a pity!

    65
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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello
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    Nov 18th 2014, 8:51 AM

    If I understand the article correctly, the council as a whole is not dithering at all. It’s just one party that’s holding them up.

    53
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    Mute Danny Rigg
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    Nov 18th 2014, 9:46 AM

    So the 8 non-Sinn Féin councillors who also voted against it don’t count? And what about the 2 that didn’t vote at all?

    34
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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello
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    Nov 18th 2014, 10:03 AM

    The clearly do count. Their vote was counted and the budget has been prevented from passing as a result.

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    Mute Danny Rigg
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    Nov 18th 2014, 10:06 AM

    Exactly, so your claim that there’s “one party that’s holding them up” is a complete lie

    33
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    Mute Dara McGann
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    Nov 18th 2014, 8:42 AM

    Any idea how many councils with SF as a majority are still to pass their budgets? I’ll be in shock if there’s only one that has issues passing this year?

    60
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    Mute James Hughes
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    Nov 18th 2014, 8:51 AM

    Sinn Fein are not interested in doing the right thing they are only interested in doing the populist thing. The only reason I care about their rise in popularity is that their antics will impact on the opportunities my kids will have in life

    134
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    Mute Paul Walsh
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    Nov 18th 2014, 9:13 AM

    Sinn Fein don’t have a majority on Cork City Council, Fianna Fail are the largest party as stated above. In both Dublin City Council and South Dublin where Sinn Fein are the largest party non austerity budgets have been successfully passed.

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    Mute Frank Carty
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    Nov 18th 2014, 9:21 AM

    Time will tell how these non austerity budgets work out, as the councils have less money for public services as a result. Its a double edged sword.

    20
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    Mute Barry Ryan
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    Nov 18th 2014, 11:09 AM

    People just automatically blame Sinn Fein. Seriously? Are you all that brainwashed and gulable to believe the propaganda. Do not forget, Finna Fail sold this country down Europe’s toilet and Fine Gael finished the job!! It’s the ff and fg members are the one’s who want more austerity! Sinn Fein and the independents stand up for the majorities rights and they get treated like this! ! This scare mongering and sensationalist propaganda talk spead by all forms of media in Ireland has brainwashed some and already had the elite and fg/ff snobs on their side. Us ordinary people are fighting back and they don’t like it obviously. The council need to agree so we aren’t run from Dublin because as a Cork man it would make me sick !!!!!

    32
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    Mute Barry Ryan
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    Nov 18th 2014, 11:21 AM

    This governments actions are impacting my parents and my childrens quality of life. So I hope fg and ff rot and die. Stop eating up propaganda and understand. FF/FG ruined this country. No one else!!!

    21
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    Mute Tom Forde
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    Nov 19th 2014, 3:12 PM

    As representatives of the people should they not be enacting the will of the people?
    Populism itself is not a bad thing.
    It just has a bad name in Ireland because of government officials who promise populist ideals but fail to follow through on them when decisions have to be made.

    1
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    Mute Chris Mansfield
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    Nov 18th 2014, 9:45 AM

    I suspect this will be resolved as councillors realise that they could be left for 5 years without the expenses gravy train.

    47
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    Mute Tom Collins
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    Nov 18th 2014, 8:45 AM

    Why am I not surprised. Again

    31
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    Mute Sean Spillane
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    Nov 18th 2014, 10:17 AM

    I see the usual mob of frustrated and increasingly agirated blueshirts and inbred anti-SF suspects are having a love-in on here…Laughing my arse off at ‘Neal’, ‘Ahippo’ and Dara. Ps though fair play to Dan for writing under his real name and not a cowardly pseudonym.

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    Mute Richard Mccarthy
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    Nov 18th 2014, 10:25 AM

    Its a scary thought but just a harbinger of things to come maybe, if SF and the independents hold the ballance of the power in the next government the likelyhood is they will oppose every single austerity measure forcing stalemate where public administration becomes a nightmare, the very last thing this country needs right now just as the country is trying to get back on its feet.

    15
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    Mute Stephen Byrne
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    Nov 18th 2014, 10:38 AM

    Maybe it’s Sinn Feins plan to run all councils from Dublin as a formed of centralized government.

    I know they aren’t alone in rejecting budgets but this tactic has been played out in the north already. Maybe they think if they don’t pass budgets the problem will go away.

    14
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    Mute Sean Spillane
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    Nov 18th 2014, 10:17 AM

    *agitated

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    Mute ryan crowley
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    Nov 18th 2014, 3:31 PM

    You would hope that whoever comes into government next would be creative with some fresh ideas on where to get the money the country needs to operate and stop taking it from the usual suspects, the general public. Means test the children’s allowance for 1, there is hundreds of millions to be saved here. I can’t believe families earning as much as €200,000 a year are allowed to claim this and there are plenty of them in Ireland. Also if your child was born in Ireland but you’ve emigrated to another country you can still claim it? So the Irish public are supporting a child that’s being raised in Australia??? The children’s allowance is only 1 example, there are many more!

    3
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