Councillor 'battles' for local area funds

An inequality in funding because of Kilcullen and other areas being added to the Newbridge LEA is being contested by an independent candidate and sitting Newbridge councillor, Morgan McCabe. He says a 'battle' has to be fought to get the funds.

"When you were moved into our much larger MD with Two Mile House, Caragh, Brannockstown and Gilltown, the Naas MD never sent any funding with you," he says in A Letter to Kilcullen this week, welcoming the residents of the town to their new area. "They kept it for themselves and their much smaller district. Our MD is now 60,000 versus Naas MD with 29,000 — with exactly the same budget allocation. Very fair of them!"

Cllr McCabe says he saw this coming for a long time and submitted a motion from Naas Municipal District to the full Council meeting at the end of April demanding fund allocations to cover Kilcullen and the other new towns added to the district.

"It is important to me that all towns in our district continue to have the same funding as before. This however isn’t guaranteed and a battle has to be fought over this. I have fired the first salvo and as a result this request has been sent the budget committee for review in September. This could also impact community funding outside of LPT and I have made this known to the Council also."

Cllr McCabe lives in Newbridge and his family have lived in Newbridge for generations. His grandparents lived in Kilcullen and his mother Noreen McCabe (nee Guiney) went to school in Kilcullen.

“I’m passionate about law and order, climate change, animal welfare, and most of all helping people in need,” he says. “Advocating for people in distressed situations is my most important job as a councillor. I’m a key member of the committees that bring the Newbridge Christmas Lights, St Patrick's Day Parade, and I am a past President and current member of the local Lions Club. I am a hands-on community worker.

“My main skills are based around seeking creative solutions to problems and I am a rational, calm and skilful negotiator at getting things done. I promise you that I will work hard for the people of Kilcullen.”

Find out more about what Cllr McCabe has done and what he hopes to achieve in the next Council on his Facebook page.


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