How financially responsible is your council on climate?
Climate Financial Responsibility Ireland
Click on a council to find out their climate credentials! Ranked by financial success and how well they are transitioning to the new economy in their Council Areas and in their own operations.
Data is from 2021 financial year - we will be updating for the 2023/24 Financial Year.
Northern Ireland Summary
Republic of Ireland Summary
Cavan County Council
Summary of County Cavan
Energy Efficiency Cavan County Council does have an impressive energy efficiency campaign running for the last 10 years and has reduced its cost by 27.8 % over the 2010 base year with a value of €321,265pa.
Own Investments Cavan had no any PV or wind farms of its own to generate cash to support front line services common in English County Councils. See West Suffolk
Rates From Renewables Wind farms and energy savings together amounted to 16% of rates and when the National Grid is taken into account 25% of rates.
Organised Plan. Cavan does not have plan for the energy transition. see Full details for Cavan here
Donegal County Council
Donegal were one of the most impressive and professional Councils responding to our FoI's. Overall, energy contributed over €6 million or more than 17% of rates in Donegal. But this figure is probably higher as Donegal's financial systems do not allow it to 'see' the rates contributed by most types of renewable energy systems. for Full details on Domegal click here
Monaghan County Council
Summary Monaghan like most Councils in Ireland has no plan for the energy transition. But it was one of the few than had an energy savings plan.
On-site Renewables Monaghan County Council had no renewable energy installed on its premises to save money.
Own Investments Monaghan had no PV / wind farms of its own to generate cash to support front line services common in English County Councils. See West Suffolk
Efficiency Plan Monaghan had an energy efficiency campaign but they have no system to record cumulative annualised savings like their neighbours Louth and Cavan
Rates Windfarms along with rates from the National Grid provided nearly 15% of Monaghan’s rates, but is very unlikely that their senior management or finance teams know this.
Organised Plan The Council appears to have no plans to maximise the financial benefits to itself of the energy transition.
Carlow County Council
DATA ON REVENUES AND SAVINGS FOR THIS COUNCIL WILL BE ENTERED BY END OF OCTOBER 2023.
WE STARTED IN THE NORTHERN COUNCILS AND WORKING OUR WAY DOWN THE COUNTRY
Full details
Dublin City Council
Dublin City Council has been particularly obstructive and the systems and processes around its FoI and AIE handling are both non-functional and probably against the law.
We continue to pursue them for the data we need to complete all Councils in the Country
Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from a few Councils.
Fingal County Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from a few Councils.
Kildare County Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from a few Councils.
Kilkenny County Council
Summary Kilkenny is another County Council without a plan for the energy transition, but had an excellent energy savings campaign.
On-site Renewables Kilkenny County Council had no renewable energy installed on its premises to save money.
Own Investments Kilkenny had no PV or wind farms of its own to generate cash to support front line services common in English County Councils. See West Suffolk
Efficiency Plan Unlike most Irish Councils, Kilkenny had a clear grasp of its overall spending on energy, heating and transport fuels at €1,358,351. They had a well-established energy efficiency campaign with an annualised monetary saving of €258,947.5. This is nearly 20% of its current expenditure.
Rates Windfarms along with rates from the National Grid provided nearly 17% of Kilkenny’s rates. The figure is probably higher as there are issues with their finance systems.
Kilkenny seems unaware of the amount of rates it gets from the National Grid and energy infrastructure generally. Our research shows the real figure to be €2,289,894.01 . See our research on this here Tailte centrally calculated values.
Organised Plan The Council appears to have no plans to maximise the financial benefits to itself of the energy transition.
Laois County Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from this Councils.
Longford County Council
Summary When we started this project in 2020/2021 we never imagined that we would find a Council in Ireland worse than our own Newry Mourne and Down Council regarding getting their finances in shape to deal with the costs of Global Warming.
On-site Renewables 'NIL'
Own Investments in renewables NIL.
Efficiency Plan NONE.
Rates In terms of its rates, Longford is the only Council in the Country to have ‘zero’ percent of its rates from energy. Similar Councils throughout the South usually have millions of Euros pa - look at the figures for all nearby Councils.
Organised Plan NONE Click here to see full report on Longford
Louth County Council
Summary of County Louth
Energy Efficiency Louth County Council does have an impressive energy efficiency campaign which is now delivering €369,722.00 pa.
Income from renewables It has €100,267.37 income from municipal gas pa. But it has no investments in PV/wind farms of its own to generate cash to support front line services common in English County Councils. See West Suffolk
Rates; Rates from Energy in Co. Louth was nearly 11% of total rates. Only about €53,000 came from renewables.
Organised Plan The Council appears to have no plans to maximise the financial benefits to itself of the energy transition. see Louth County Council detail here
Meath County Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from a few Councils.
Offaly County Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from a few Councils.
South Dublin County Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from a few Councils.
Westmeath County Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from a few Councils.
Wexford County Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from a few Councils.
Wicklow County Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from a few Councils.
Clare County Council
Summary Claire refused our FoI and only partly responded to our AIE. Only 4 out of 47 Councils did this.
On-site Renewables Claire County Council had no renewable energy installed on its premises to save money.
Own Investments Claire had no PV / wind farms of its own to generate cash to support front line services common in English County Councils.
Efficiency Plan Surprisingly Claire claimed to be one of the few Councils in Ireland not to have an energy efficiency plan. Nor do they have no system to record cumulative annualised savings.
Rates Out of 9 renewable energy types Claire could only identify windfarms paying rates in its area. These, along with rates from the National Grid provided only 8% of Claire’s rates. This is very low for a Western County. Full details for County Claire here
Cork City Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from a few Councils.
WE STARTED IN THE NORTHERN COUNCILS AND WORKING OUR WAY DOWN THE COUNTRY Full details
Cork County Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from a few Councils.
WE STARTED IN THE NORTHERN COUNCILS AND WORKING OUR WAY DOWN THE COUNTRY
Kerry County Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from this Council.
WE STARTED IN THE NORTHERN COUNCILS AND WORKING OUR WAY DOWN THE COUNTRY
Limerick City and County Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from a few Councils.
WE STARTED IN THE NORTHERN COUNCILS AND WORKING OUR WAY DOWN THE COUNTRY
Tipperary County Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from a few Councils.
WE STARTED IN THE NORTHERN COUNCILS AND WORKING OUR WAY DOWN THE COUNTRY
Waterford City and County Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from a few Councils.
WE STARTED IN THE NORTHERN COUNCILS AND WORKING OUR WAY DOWN THE COUNTRY
Galway City Council
The colour on the map reflects what we have found about this Council based on the financial year ending 2020 and we are aiming to have the data fully entered before the close of COP28 on 12th December 2023. We are still battling to get information from this Council.
Galway County Council
Summary County Galway like most Councils in Ireland has no plan for the energy transition.
On-site Renewables Galway County Council had no renewable energy installed on its premises to save money.
Own Investments Galway had no PV / wind farms of its own to generate cash to support front line services common in English County Councils.
Efficiency Plan Surprisingly County Galway claimed not to have an energy efficiency plan . Nor did they have no system to record cumulative annualised savings against their €2 million energy budget.
Rates Windfarms along with rates from the National Grid provided 16% of Galway’s rates.
Leitrim County Council
Summary
We judged Leitrim as a bit hapless, falling into wealth with rates from renewable energy but no plans for any basic aspect of the energy transition.
Renewable Energy Leitrim County Council claimed to have no renewable energy installed on its premises
Energy Efficiency Leitrim claimed to have no energy efficiency campaign. Leitrim appeared to have no grip on its overall expenditure on energy,
Rates from Renewables Renewable energy provided 23.7% of its rates. If the National Grid is taken into account, energy made up 34%.
Organised Plan The Council appears to have no plans to maximise the financial benefits to itself of the energy transition.. Click here to see full details on Leitrim here
Mayo County Council
Efficiency Plan Unlike many Irish Councils, Mayo had an energy efficiency campaign producing €165,000 pa.
Rates Windfarms and the National grid provided 11% of Mayo’s rates. Including Mayo’s gas terminal and the National Gas network, fully 34% of Mayo’s rates are from energy.
Organised Plan The Council appears to have no plans to maximise the financial benefits to itself of the energy transition. Mayo has similar problems to Mid and East Antrim Council where the Council is ‘addicted’ to rates from fossil fuel plant of £5 million a year. Mayo is worse at over €7.5 million. We have suggested how they might survive the loss of this income in the link below , copying Councils in England. Click here for full details on Mayo
Roscommon County Council
Summary Roscommon like most Councils in Ireland has no plan for the energy transition.
On-site Renewables Roscommon County Council had no renewable energy installed on its premises to save money.
Own Investments Roscommon had no PV / wind farms of its own to generate cash to support front line services common in English County Councils.
Efficiency Plan Surprisingly County Roscommon claimed not to have an energy efficiency plan. Nor did they have any system to record cumulative annualised savings against their €1.3 million energy budget.
Rates Roscommon could only identify windfarms paying rates in its area. These provided 14% of Roscommon’s rates
Organised Plan It is very unlikely that County Roscommon’s senior management or finance teams know how significant energy is to its rates at 28% in 2020, or that rates from renewables are forecast to grow six-fold over the next 15 years.
Sligo County Council
Summary Sligo is another County Council without a plan for the energy transition.
On-site Renewables Sligo County Council claimed to have no renewable energy installed on its premises to save money.
Own Investments Nor did Sligo have any PV or wind farms of its own to generate cash to support front line services common in English County Councils. See West Suffolk
Efficiency Plan Sligo has no formal energy efficiency campaign and has only recently started collating information on possible energy savings. Other small Councils like Louth have savings of over E300,000pa from their energy saving campaigns including installation of cheaper renewables.
Rates In terms of its rates, Windfarms along with rates from the National Grid provided 9.6% of Sligo’s rates. The figure is probably higher as there are issues with their finance systems having no coding for any of the 9 types of renewable energy except wind farms.
Summary of Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, we found that the Department of Finance was very helpful, providing a full breakdown of rates by council on each type of renewable energy project. Here are the 3 freedom of information replies we got from them.
- Rates by Council from renewable energy by Council (how to compute rates for Anaerobic, Biomass, Hydro Electric, Landfill Gas, Solar, etc) (and wind at this link)
- Fossil fuel rates by council (no nuclear in NI)
- total rates for all councils in NI by each Council area.
In our FOIs (Freedom of Information requests) to each one of the 11 Northern Irish councils, we found varying levels of response, rising from an apparent lack of knowledge amongst senior council officers in regards to the financial information being sought, lack of knowledge over possible savings or income sources available to Councils and a lack of understanding that tackling Climate Change at Council level can provide a significant beneficial boost to Council finances.
We prepared the following summary of all 11 NI Councils from best to worst here: SUMMARY OF INCOME BY COUNCIL FROM RENEWABLES OR ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Summary of Republic Of Ireland
In the 26 counties of the Republic of Ireland, not every council was forthcoming with FOI requests. The Department of Finance was both unhelpful and claimed to have no relevant financial data. This was hard to believe.
However, we discovered the European Directive on public access to environmental information mandates European public bodies to provide all environmental related information to be published to a fulsome extent, at no extra cost. We used this with Councils in RoI.
The information received back from most Councils in RoI mostly reflected the same dire lack of education and knowledge at senior management level we found in NI Councils. Senior Council Management North and South seem quite oblivious to the millions of Euros/pounds of economic benefits to themselves and their ratepayers arising from tackling Climate Change in a realistic meaningful way.
You can look at your council by clicking on your Council in the map above. But we are preparing spreadsheet comparing all Councils in the Republic like we have done for Northern Ireland and it will appear here when finished. We will also do a version from an All-Island point of view as well that will be found here.