Councillors’ fury over pay scheme proposal
Frustration as delays to reforms end with plan to hit expenses
ANGER is growing across the ranks of county councillors over the failure of the State to honour commitments to reform their pay and conditions.
The issue of councillor pay dogged the tenure of former junior minister for Local Government John Paul Phelan, and it is believed that his successor and Fine Gael colleague Peter Burke only took the post after he was given a guarantee that the issue would be resolved within a year.
Mr Burke has sent a completed proposal to Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Michael McGrath that will see councillors’ earnings rise from €17,000 to €25,000. The plan is also expected to replace the unvouched expenses system with a vouched scheme.
Councillors are not impressed with the removal of unvouched expenses. One councillor said: ‘This is the first ever improvement in terms and conditions that will actually result in a deterioration in terms and conditions.’
It was expected that the new scheme would be announced after a Cabinet meeting a fortnight ago,
but a source said: ‘They were terrified after the nurses row – they couldn’t dare.’
It is believed that the minister in charge is less than impressed by the ongoing delay.
One source said: ‘Peter Burke is not at all happy. He has given the completed scheme to McGrath weeks ago. It is in his hands.’
They added: ‘The submission is long done. All that is required is his signature on the statutory instrument. It’s over to him now.’
Such is the annoyance among councillors, some are suggesting the proposed 50% increase is not enough and that their salaries should be almost doubled to €30,000 per annum.
The problem, one Fine Gael minister said, ‘is that McGrath has been like milk and water. He is lukewarm and Micheál [Martin] is even windier’.
The Public Expenditure Minister is not alone in his desire to pass the parcel. When Paschal Donohoe was asked about the issue by Senator Victor Boyhan, the Finance Minister flipped a political hospital pass to McGrath.
In correspondence seen by the Irish Mail on Sunday, Mr Donohoe said: ‘As this issue is a matter in the first instance for the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Mr Michael McGrath TD, your correspondence has been forwarded to his Department for attention and direct reply to you.’
One minister noted: ‘The buck is supposed to stop at the boss’s desk but when it comes to the pay and conditions of councillors, apparently it slides.’
In a further indication of gathering political unease, Mr Boyhan is calling for councillors to receive an annual payment of €30,000.
The independent senator said the yearly rate of €17,200, is ‘simply not sufficient or fair for the work and commitment that councillors give to the job’.
‘Despite promises by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil over many years, no concrete offer has been forthcoming. Both are now in government and should sign up to a fair remuneration package,’ he said.