The Minister for the Environment has warned Dublin City Council that he will not grant it additional time to agree its 2002 €700 million budget unless there is a "reasonable prospect" of a deal.
The 52-member council is facing abolition because it can neither accept a €36 increase in bin charges nor agree other measures to fill a €16 million gap in its finances.
On Sunday night, the councillors, who are now in breach of their obligations under the Local Government Act 2001 to set a budget before the new year, sought more time from the Minister, Mr Cullen.
Meanwhile, the General Council of County Councils has pointed out to councillors that they would also lose their places on health boards, vocational education committees and other bodies if the city council is abolished.
"A lot of people, including some elected members, might not be aware of that. It would affect their places on authorities such as the Dublin Port and Docks Board as well," said Mr Liam Kenny, the director of the general council.
In a letter yesterday from the Department of the Environment to the Dublin City Manager, Mr John Fitzgerald, the Minister said that he was "disappointed and seriously concerned" by the situation.
Mr Cullen was "particularly concerned" that this was the second year in three in which the council had failed to agree a budget on time. "He [the Minister\] will bear this fact in mind in considering his options," an official in the Department wrote. "The seriousness of such a failure is underlined by the nature of the ultimate sanction provided in the relevant legislation, i.e. removal of members from office.
While seeking an "early and satisfactory" resolution of the crisis, the Department said that the Minister was "reluctant to prolong the budgetary process if there is not a reasonable prospect of a satisfactory outcome".
The Dublin City Manager has now been told to indicate whether he believes it is "likely" that councillors could adopt a budget which would meet all of the city council's statutory obligations at a reconvened estimates meeting.
Last night, a spokeswoman for Mr Fitzgerald said that he expected to respond to the Minister "early next week" following talks with the political parties represented on the council.
Up to now, the majority of the councillors have refused to accept the City Manager's proposal to increase bin charges next year from €120 to €156.
The council's budget meeting was adjourned three times during December to give political parties time to come up with alternatives to the increase in bin charges. So far, however, they have been unable to find a way out of the impasse.
Under local government legislation, the Minister can dissolve the council and replace it with a commissioner answerable to him. Naas Urban District Council was the last authority to meet this fate. The nine members of the UDC, who had refused to accept water charges, were replaced on the orders of the then minister, Mr Liam Kavanagh, by a commissioner, Mr Dan Turpin, in 1985.
