A chara, – Brendan McMahon (September 23rd), commenting on the expense of Irish local democracy, states that "in France local councillors in the various communes are not paid whereas their Irish counterparts 'earn' a minimum of €16,000 a year". He is of course referring to the salary paid to county and city councillors, the very ones being left in place by the so-called "Putting People First" series of abolitions rather than reforms. The former members of town and borough councils were paid a fraction of that amount.
In my own case, as a member of the 700-year-old Kilkenny Borough Council, that payment never exceeded €9,000 (before tax!) and the maximum expenses allowed were €1,600 per annum.
The total savings of the abolition of our council came to less than a total of €200,000.
I agree wholeheartedly with Pat McMahon (September 21st) that civilised European democracies would never contemplate the abolition of their urban councils, let alone the insanity of the current proposal to abolish the last city council outside of Dublin, which will of course be left with four! Can anybody imagine the governments of the respective countries proposing the abolition of the city councils of Milan, Nice, Madrid or even Manchester.
Those in my own party, Labour, should heed the words of Brendan Howlin and reverse track on what he described a few short months ago as our greatest mistake in Government. – Yours, etc,
SEÁN Ó hARGÁIN,
Kilkenny.
A chara, – Brendan McMahon is correct in stating that county councillors earn a minimum of €16,000 and expenses. His letter, however, may give the impression that town councillors earned the same amounts prior to the abolition of their councils. I served for many years as a member of Killarney town council where the annual “salary” per councillor was €4,000, plus €2,000 in expenses. There was a total of nine councillors, which means that their combined income was €54,000 out of an annual budget of approximately €13.5 million. Hardly an exorbitant percentage, one would think!
The annual income, if such it could be called, of each town councillor throughout Ireland would not in any way come close to meeting the then minimum wage payment. I trust that the above clarifies the matter and saves my former colleagues unnecessary blushes. – Is mise,
MICHAEL GLEESON,
Killarney,
Co Kerry.