Value to Carlow from town twinning spend is ‘immeasurable’
County buildings
A CARLOW County councillor was accused of “playing politics” after questioning the amount set aside for town twinning in the 2026 local authority budget.
Cllr Andrea Dalton made the comment following a query made to the executive from cllr Adrienne Wallace during the draft budget meeting on Thursday 20 November. Cllr Wallace asked whether the €10,000 increase on last year’s budget allocated to town twinning could be transferred over to litter management.
In response, cllr Dalton said the overall twinning budget of €40,500 amounted to less than 0.01% of the entire budget, and that the value Carlow gets for that money is immeasurable.
“Having international connectivity is vitally important for a town like Carlow,” she said. “I think it is playing politics when people try and besmirch it and say that it is going to other areas than what it is being used for.”
Carlow County Council chief executive Coilín O’Reilly encouraged cllr Wallace to go on one of the twinning trips to see what happens on them and the wider economic benefit to Carlow as a result of the trips.
“There’ll be 400 people coming to Carlow for a weekend next September, as part of the Entente Florale flower show,” he said. “If we didn’t engage with Entente Florale, that opportunity would not have come our way.”
Cllr Fintan Phelan welcomed the increase and said Carlow’s partnership with the town of Dole in France could allow for further expansion of Carlow’s growing food tourism business, which would benefit local restaurants and food producers.
