Commercial rates to remain the same for 2026

Cavan County Council budgets for almost €112M of expenditure next year

The decision not to increase commercial rates for businesses in 2026 was widely praised at the council's annual budget meeting yesterday afternoon (Thursday).

The annual rates payment is €0.2432, calculated by multiplying the annual rate by the rateable valuation on a property. It will go unchanged next year.

The council is set to spend some €111,790,000 within different areas of the county next year to improve infrastructure and public services. This represents an increase of over €5,773,000 on last year's expenditure figure.

Council spending will go towards housing and building; road transport and safety; water services; development management; environmental services; recreation and amenity; agriculture, education, health and welfare and miscellaneous services.

Fine Gael Cllr Trevor Smith was the first to "welcome" that there would be no difference on the rates figure, with Sinn Féin's Damian Brady also praising the "zero percent increase".

"Businesses out there are struggling and they are struggling bad," he told the chamber yesterday.

Cllr Brendan Fay (Ind), who is also the owner of 'The Widows Bar' in Belturbet, commented that it is "great to see a budget being passed without an increase in rates".

However, Sinn Féin's Noel Connell, while congratulating the council on preparing the budget, said that "people are paying tax and rates but are not getting the service for our roads".

He commented that the increase in expenditure on roads from €27,803,145 last year to €30,383,634 this year is "very small" and claimed some roads "haven't been touched in forty years" and are "falling apart."

"If there isn't something done, we're not going to have roads.

"This government needs to waken up and say Cavan needs more money for roads," he stated.

For more news and figures from budget 2026, consult next week's print edition of The Anglo-Celt.