Cosaí slams cut to council expenses
‘HEAVY-HANDED’ RESPONSE TO CRITICISM
OUTGOING MAYOR of Kerry Seamus Cosaí Fitzgerald has slammed cuts to mayoral salaries and councillors’ expenses as a ‘ heavy-handed’ response by Government to public criticism of the level of pay for elected representatives.
The Fine Gael councillor from West Kerry said the ‘full-time’ reality of the job of cathaoirligh is a far-cry from the way in which it is regularly portrayed in the media as a part-time job.
New councillors were flabbergasted this week to learn of the cuts in salaries and expenses in a surprise announcement by Environment Minister Phil Hogan. Under the move, councillors will lose out on expenses payments of up to €20,000 each over the fiveyear life of the elected authorities and incoming mayors will earn less than half their predessors’ salaries in some counties.
But Mayor Fitzgerald said the cuts to the salaries of cathaoirligh come in response to a the perception of the job as being a part-time one.
“It’s a full-time job dealing with constituents and attending meetings every day of the week and not a part-time position as is often made out in the media. For instance, today ( Tuesday) I am meeting with five separate groups and individuals in what will take hours, but that is not something that becomes known publicly. Some people think we just attend a meeting once a month, but the work is day and night,” the Mayor said.
Minister Hogan also referred to how he was bringing to an end what he described as the ‘scandal of councillors travelling to a wide range of pointless and ineffective conferences.’
“That would seem a bit heavyhanded, but the perception is out there and the Minister is getting it in the neck so I can understand where he is coming from on that. The issue of conferences, however, has been addressed in the legislation and under that they have to be relevant. I’m just back from America where I travelled with tourist operators and I had to be there to give them added credibility as Kerry Mayor in promoting their areas.”
Mayor Fitzgerald said he did not get into the job to ‘make money’ and criticised a recent media report outlining mayoral renumeration as not giving the proper picture.
“Pre-tax figures are presented. I earn €36,000 as Mayor and pay 20 per cent and 40 per cent tax on some of it so it gets whittled down fast. If I was mayor under the new regime I would have been hard-hit in my own pocket and I would be fearful the new pay scale would discourage a lot of people from local politics, particularly those in the professions and full- time work,” he said.