Greystones district, including Kilcoole & Newcastle, gets €172 per person a year to run the area whereas Bray, a similar urban area, gets €242 and thus has 3 times the staff. West Wicklow gets €331 each and Arklow & Wicklow Districts about €280. That’s why services are poor in Greystones. The money spent in the area was always small and has not increased in line with the population. The growth also increases the spend with roads being dug up frequently. When I complain about this, Councillor Patsy Glennon (FF) from the West says ‘Greystones Streets are paved with Gold’!! Other local Councillors supported the demand for more money but we have not got it changed.

This is doublely annoying as the Local Property Tax paid in Greystones is the highest in Wicklow as the house prices are nearly double those in some other areas.

Council officials sent a list of projects to justify an increase in LPT (which was rejected). Analysing this showed hardly any capital money was spent here either. Greystones & Wicklow Districts (including Newtown) are building much more houses than other areas. Development levies are paid for each new house and are supposed to fund infrastructure, mostly roads & paths, to support this growth. However the West, with no new houses, is allocated 10 times more levies than Greystones!  Wicklow with the same growth is allocated 30 times more capital expenditure.

Large amounts are being spent on the Clermont education facility, in Rathnew, which should be paid by the Department of Education as its not a core service for councils. Also huge amounts of money are to be spent upgrading Wicklow, Arklow & Bray harbours.

Greystones needs a fairer share of the money to cope with all the growth.