De Burca calls for greater accountability for councillor's expenses

Councillor de Burca claims that as councillors are public servants paid from the public purse, they should be much more accountable to the public regarding the value they give for the money paid to them.

"As people will see from the table of expenses published by the Farmer's Journal, there is a good deal of variation between different councillors in terms of what they earn each year" she says. "For instance, if councillors are members of a local health board, or are chairmen of the new Strategic Policy Committees, they earn a lot more than someone who is not and this money is tax-free".

Councillor de Burca argues that she believes hard-working councillors should be paid for the work they do but she points out that members of the public have no real way to assess the work being done by individual councillors. "It is one thing for a councillor to turn up at every local meeting and gathering in one's electoral area but this does not necessarily mean that much else is being done" she says.

Councillor de Burca has been particularly critical of the expenses paid to councillors for attending conferences every year. "If I had a euro for every conference on waste, for example, that has been attended by members of Wicklow County Council, I would be a rich woman" she says. "But look at waste policy in this county. Can we honestly say that councillors are learning much at these conferences when there is no evidence of any kind of progressive policies on waste being discussed or implemented? Each of these conferences nets an average of 300 euros for the councillor concerned. Can we call this value for money" she asks.

For further information please contact Deirdre de Burca on 086 8061450 or email deburca@wicklowgreens.org.