FF councillor on sick leave defends trip to Gibraltar

A Fianna Fáil councillor on sick leave from the health service for the last month has defended her decision to travel to a councillors' conference in Gibraltar.

Cllr Rosaleen O'Grady has been on sick leave from her post as clinical nurse manager at a nursing home in Co Leitrim.

However, she has confirmed that she attended the four-day conference in Gibraltar following advice from her doctor.

The conference was organised by the Confederation of European Councillors, which involves local authority members from Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Around 80 councillors from the Republic and 40 from the North attended.

Ms O'Grady said: "I felt it would do me no harm to go. If my doctor had said 'no', I wouldn't have gone.

"I would prefer to be at work. Hopefully I'll be allowed to return to work in services for older people, which I dearly love.

"I'm off on sick leave since September 24th and am awaiting clarification of a health problem I have. I cannot go back to work on the advice of my doctor and am getting ongoing physiotherapy. I cleared the issue with my carers before going," she said.

Ms O'Grady, who works at the Arus Brefine nursing home in Manorhamilton, said she did not feel it necessary to notify her employers, the North Western Health Board, about the trip.

The health board was unavailable for comment yesterday.

The 51-year-old Sligo-based councillor added: "I'm the mother of four children. What I'm saying is honest and truthful. There was no problem about feeling anxious before going. As it stands I am awaiting clarification of my condition."

The cost of sending the councillors to the conference was estimated to be a minimum of €900 each. The overall cost was estimated to be over €100,000.

The programme for the conference included a day-trip across the straits of Gibraltar to Morocco. The organisers said this was to educate councillors about migration issues on borders between rich and poor nations.

The confederation's partnership manager, Mr John Devaney, earlier this month defended the decision to hold the annual conference outside Ireland. He said that the location was chosen to encourage dialogue between local politicians from differing political backgrounds.

The confederation comprises over 2,100 councillors of various political persuasions from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. It was established in October 1999.