Steep costs associated with the €15 million Jeanie Johnston replica famine ship project, and other tourism projects, are threatening the future of Tralee Town Council.
The council will meet tonight in a last attempt to agree on a budget for the year, or else be disbanded. Councillors are calling for extra Government funding to pay the Jeanie Johnston debt, saying it is a national project.
The council is committed to annual repayments of €235,000 towards the debt. This was agreed just two years ago to bail out the project. The repayments are due annually for the next 15 years. The council has already been refused an additional general purpose allocation over and above their recent increases from the local government fund by the Minster for the Environment, Mr Cullen. A request for a meeting with the Minister was also turned down.
Fianna Fáil councillor Ms Norma Foley said yesterday that an extraordinary payment should be considered for what was a national asset.
"Everybody loves the Jeanie Johnston, but nobody is willing to put their money into it," she said.
Members have said they will not dispense with waste collection, the council's single biggest cost factor in 2004.
The mayor of Tralee, Mr Terry O'Brien ( Lab), has warned that "a big decision must be taken. Something major must give.
"Drop something big, or drop ourselves." It will be the fourth time the council has met since before Christmas in an attempt to balance the books. Tourism projects begun in the 1990s such as the Jeanie Johnston and the county museum, a steam train, and an unfinished canal project, with heavy support from Shannon Development, will cost the council over €700,000 this year.
The county museum, the site of a major international award-winning Antarctica exhibition last year, which is costing the council over €300,000 after receipts may also be forced to close. "This council may not be better off because of tourism projects, but the town is," Cllr Ted Fitzgerald (FF) said.