Council expenses worth it?
Wednesday February 24 2010
THE next time one of your local councillors knocks at your front door, ask yourself this: are they worth it?
Figures released by Fingal County Council this week and compiled by the Fingal Independent show the local authority forked out an extraordinary € 741,600 on its councillors last year. Broken down, that equates to around € 30,900 for each of the 24 councillors and takes in their allowances, travel, phone, broadband and conference costs. Many may argue that being a public representative is in itself a full-time job and for the workload undertaken by the vast majority of councillors, the rewards are merited. However, at a time when the entire country is tightening its collective belt, is it right that our local authority should spend more than € 10,000 on sending our local representatives to Europe? Or, more importantly, a further € 44,000 on conferences within the 26 counties of Ireland? There is no doubt the council work hard on behalf of the Fingal public and often go above and beyond the call of duty, raring 'clockingoff' and always willing to serve those who elected them.
But these days, value for money has become the key to surviving life in this country and no doubt the thousands of people out of work or struggling to make ends meet will find the figures a most interesting read.
Unlike each of the claims made by our councillors, when it comes to the ballot box, you don't get a receipt.
