Mount Congreve's 'bailout' loan approved by Council

A controversial loan of €750,000 was approved by Waterford City and County Council for Mount Congreve at the Plenary meeting in Dungarvan.

At the meeting, on Friday, September 13, the loan was approved with the votes of 20 Councillors, but it took a heated exchange and a separate vote on a proposed amendment to eventually pass the original proposal.

One of the main issues for Councillors was that there was "no business plan" presented to them for the €750,000 loan. A separate issue, noted by Sinn Féin Cllr Joeanne Bailey, was that the workshops carried out were behind closed doors (which is standard procedure), despite the discussions being focused on how to spend public money. Waterford City and County Council was asked by Waterford News & Star why that information wasn't disclosed to local Councillors. "A detailed financial model has been developed but it contains commercially sensitive information which was not appropriate to make public. All Councillors were briefed on the challenges facing Mount Congreve, on the options open to us and the financial projections if the additional financial support was provided," stated the Council in its response. 

Councillors were conflicted with their decision as, according to Cllr Daniels the "priority is to protect employment" and he could "support a cash injection for day to day operations" but given the recent cash injection of €1.3 million from the Council, Cllr Daniels felt he couldn't back the original proposal as it was. Another difficulty that Cllr Pat Fitzgerald highlighted was that management of Mount Congreve "pursued capital works, when there wasn't capital."

"They seem to have second-guessed the Council's decision and brushed us aside. I think that was a mistake," he added. 

In recommending the loan to the Council, Mr Sean Mckeown (the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer of Waterford City and County Council) reassured the members that the decision would not negatively impact the delivery of Council services. He said the funding would be sourced from underspend to date this year, in both the Council's revenue and capital budgets. That arose from savings from a number of areas, including unfilled staff vacancies and delays in the delivery of some capital projects.

Separately, as the local Councillors welcomed Mr McKeown to his role, they dined at Mount Congreve, while knowing that management of the historic house and gardens had applied for an additional loan from the Council and that capital works were underway. It's been confirmed by the CEO of Mount Congreve, Sara Dolan that "Waterford City and County Council paid for all food and beverage at their recent meeting."

Mr McKeown informed the Council at the Plenary meeting that Mount Congreve is currently facing significant financial challenges, due to lower-than-expected visitor numbers, owing mainly to the relatively poor weather this summer, and higher than forecasted operating costs. He acknowledged the decision was a challenging one. In a statement to the News & Star, Ms Dolan clarified the purpose of the loan: "The loan will assist Mount Congreve Trust in completing capital works for additional accommodation units and in covering cash-flow issues which have arisen over the year due to low visitor number to the gardens.

"An independent financial review of the operations and financial projections will be undertaken over the next month and a report will be provided to WCCC by the end of October which will inform any further funding requirements for Mount Congreve Trust."