Council approves €86 million budget for 2026
Roscommon County Council headquarters (Áras an Chontae) in Roscommon Town.
A local authority budget of €86 million for 2026 has been approved by councillors today, an increase by almost €6.5 million on this year’s allocation.
Income from the local property tax will account for €12.9 million of this with commercial rates making up €14 million. The majority of funding will come from specific state grants at €35.2 million. Part of the approved budget is a 5 per cent rates increase, which the council says will only affect 4 per cent of the county’s rates payers. The local property tax remains unchanged.
Most of the budget is allocated to ‘Road, Transportation, and Safety’, which is proposed to get a total of €32.9 million, an increase on the €30.6 million figure for this year. The allocation for ‘Housing and Building’ is also scheduled to increase from €10.9 million to €13.1 million.
Among the big ticket items within its capital budget for 2026 to 2028 is €192 million for the N5 Ballaghaderreen to Scramoge Road Project. The project’s detailed design is 95% complete and construction is approximately 60% complete as of the end of September 2025.
It was also welcomed by councillors that the vast majority of rates payers would not be affected by the increase. However, the need for Elphin to receive additional funding was highlighted.
Council Cathaoirleach Liam Callaghan welcomed the budget, praising it as a “substantial amount of money”. He said that the N5 project was “a game changer” and he was delighted to see progress on it.
While he welcomed progress on the issue, he highlighted that an “awful amount” of unfinished estates remained in the Boyle Municipal District. This needed to be addressed and he called for more funding from central government to achieve this.
Cllr Tom Crosby welcomed the budget but suggested that there should be more balanced investment in the county’s towns. He suggested that the proposed €19.5 million indoor Recreation and Outdoor Sports Centre should be located in Strokestown rather than the county town.
Welcoming the budget, Cllr Paschal Fitzmaurice acknowledged that funding for reopening Castlerea Fire Station was not in the budget. He said that a figure of €1.5 million was estimated to reopen it and that it would cost €500,000 annually to run it. He said that discussions were needed with central government to fund this, saying the money had to be found.
Cllr Nigel Dineen said that there has to be greater speed on delivering housing, saying people could not live in projections.
Cllr Tony Ward, who supported the budget, highlighted that the N61 was in urgent need of an upgrade. This sentiment was shared by Cllr Valerie Duffy.
Welcoming the planned investment for Lough Key, Cllr Leah Cull praised the council's support for housing and tourism events.
Among the budget's agreed amendments are to increase to the three MDs' funding for 2026 to €150,000 each.
