TWO DUBLIN CITY Councillors will not have to pay back the €6,352 they spent printing about 140,000 anti-water charge leaflets.
Tina MacVeigh and John Lyons, both members of People Before Profit, were found to have not broken any rules as there was no specified printing limit prior to January 2015, a council spokesperson confirmed.
A limit of 5,000 copies per councillor per month was recommended at the council’s Protocol and Selection Committee of today.
This arrangement comes into immediate effect and is subject to review in six months.
MacVeigh and Lyons welcomed the decision, saying they hadn’t done anything wrong.
“We hope that any new limits introduced reflect the democratic right of all constituents to be communicated with regularly by their elected representatives.
“Communication and consultation is at the heart of the democratic process and is an issue for constituents who feel strongly about the fact that they usually only hear from their elected representatives when they are looking for votes at election time,” MacVeigh said.
Lyons said People Before Profit “condemns the misuse of public monies: from the €64 billion that was wasted bailing out six private banking institutions in 2008; the €96 million spent on the Poolbeg Incinerator without a sod turned and opposed by successive councils, to the ongoing publicly funded disaster that is Irish Water”.
From TDs and Senators sending out Christmas cards to local Councillors engaging in junkets, we have clearly and consistently opposed public representatives, political parties and unelected city managers wasting public monies.
MacVeigh said the party regrets that this issue was “leaked to the media by an elected representative of this Council in an attempt to call into question our integrity”.
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