Fine Gael withdraws from Dublin City Council negotiations

The Fine Gael group has today (Friday) withdrawn from negotiations over the formation of a ruling coalition for Dublin City Council.

The Fine Gael group has withdrawn from negotiations over the formation of a ruling coalition for Dublin City Council. We have engaged in the negotiation process in good faith to see if we can establish common ground with other groups to progress the interests of the citizens of Dublin.

However the negotiations did not yield simple, strong and binding commitments on the following two budgetary matters which were ‘red-line’ issues for us:

· No increase in commercial rates to protect jobs in Dublin City and to build on the work done by the previous Council
· No increase in the property tax to protect living standards of Dubliners.
“We are therefore withdrawing from negotiations and will be voting on all issues on a case-by-case basis from now on.

We will always welcome co-operation on common causes from like-minded groups and individuals on the Council.