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DUBLIN CITY COUNCILLORS have hit out at the announcement of a €1,000 pay increase for councillors outside of the city districts.
Councillors operating in municipal districts across Ireland were informed yesterday by the Department for Local Government that they would soon be receiving a new allowance of €1,000 per year.
The Department said this is in order to reflect the additional work of and expenses incurred by councillors since the introduction of reforms in the Local Government Act (2014), which reduced the number by 41% (from 1,627 to 949).
However, councillors in the four Dublin Local Authorities, as well as members of Galway and Cork City Councils will not be entitled to the increase.
It is believed this is due to the numbers of councillors actually having risen in city councils, and the geographical area that they have to cover being smaller.
However, Dublin city councillors have hit out at decision, saying it represented unequal treatment.
“There has been a policy of anti-urban policies by successive ministers and this is just the latest of it,” Labour councillor Dermot Lacey for Pembroke-Rathmines told TheJournal.ie.
“I’d like Dublin City Council to be treated fairly like everyone else.
My electoral area has 100,000 people in it. We’ve been working for in Municipal areas for years without them being called that.
Lacey said that the costs of parking in Dublin and the costs incurred by leafleting homes were two examples of the extra expenses incurred by city members.
“What we need is real reform, not these piecemeal changes,” he said.
[Housing Minister Simon Coveney] would have been better off doing nothing.
Lacey’s comments were echoed by Independent councillor for the North Inner City Nial Ring.
Ring told TheJournal.ie that he felt Dublin city councillors did a huge amount of work and had one of the biggest populations to cater to.
“Councillors are certainly not in this for the money,” said Ring.
“Most us get involved because we want to make a difference in our communities.
This is just another case where Dublin has to pick up the tab for the rest of the country.
Vouched expenses
All councillors across the country have also been informed that they will now be entitled to an increase of around €2,500 to their vouched expenses.
As things stand, elected members of a council are entitled to between €2,286 and €2,667 a year in a fixed allowance to cover administrative expenses. These expenses are un-vouched (receipts do not have to be provided to claim).
Now, council members will have an option of trading in that allowance for up to a €5,000 allowance in vouched for expenses a year. This will apply to things like newsletter distribution, web hosting, secretary support and similar things.
Both these changes are due to come into effect from 1 July of this year, once Minister Coveney has signed the appropriate regulations
The new measures were broadly welcomed by the Association of Irish Local Government (AILG), who has been campaigning for improved terms for councillors since 2014.
However, the group said it was “disappointed and concerned” that city councils would be exempt from the €1,000 increase to allowances.
I hope she never sees the light of day again
The sickening thing is , she will .
Will she even do time I wonder
I doubt it. It’ll be a Suspended sentence
This is Ireland.
She’ll most likely, get a fully furnished new house to add to her previous portfolio of 3.
A new car.
A raise in her benefits.
New clothes.
And hundreds of thousands of Euro in medical and counselling expenses.
This woman does not deserve to call herself a mother. She’s nothing but a disgusting human. Fair play to those kids for going through with this case and sorry to hear this was allowed to carry on for so long.
How did she get bail? Vile human being, I hope she gets a proper sentence and the kids get the love and help they need.
How could this continue over time without something being done? Neighbours aware, school aware of issues. What did social services do here? This is madness.
Yes, Greg, I wonder what Social Services did here, and what the ISPCC did here, too.
It seems to just have been allowed to continue for 5 years.
It’s astounding, with Child Abuse supposedly being taken so seriously.
I can’t understand what makes someone do that to kids, any kids. I just hope that they get the love and attention that they deserve now as young adults.
Her defense team? Who paid for that I wonder?
Where is/are the father(s)?
How is this tolerated in the 21st century?
She may not even know who the fathers are.
Disgusting! Poor children, God love them
Why didn’t the neighbours report her?
What a twisted bitch
I heard some of the mothers defence evidence reported on the radio today in relation to the two boys having their hair pulled out by her…….
“She said the boys were exaggerating, yes, she said, she had to hold them forcibly in a headlock and it took some power to force the neck of the Fairy washing liquid bottle past their clenched teeth as they struggled and won’t allow her to pour the washing up liquid in their mouths because they said a rude word but she didn’t pull out clumps of hair”
That was her defence on that charge alone.
She didn’t see anything wrong with it, that was her defence………What an evil woman.
She is evil, I hope that she never gets out.
It wasn’t just her that failed the children, why were they left in her care for so long, why did it take so long to bring her to court?
Why was there a delay of 5 years from when social services got involved until the kids were taken from this vile evil woman
The poor kids. I hope they can go on to lead normal happy lives.
This evil piece of sc#m should be fed on bread and water for the rest of her miserable life
I hope she gets the help she needs, and for the children’s sake that she is able to establish a normal relationship with them in time.
Joe, I would say that the relationship is way beyond repair.
‘The help she needs’?!! Are you for real Joe?
Why is every perpetrator of horrific crimes given the tag of ‘victim’? Some people are just evil, nasty, deplorable animals and should be disposed of.
After witnessing first hand similar events above I can say from my own experience that forgiveness comes in time. May be a few years, may take decades, the child will still want to be loved / accepted by the parent. They may have a chance at a relationship of some sort depending on the child or no relationship at all depending on the child. The child will also feel a degree of guilt and responsibility even though the child is 100% innocent the guilt is still there.
The child’s want/need to be loved and wanted is huge if they can get that of the fosters career they may never look for their mothers love, but if they are shipped from home to home and only used by the foster career for money (some foster careers not all) then I feel the child future will be hard.
Exactly Colin some people are beyond help, evil will always be evil unfortunately the human race churns out the odd one every now and then, and unfortunately that evil can spawn innocent children.
Well said
Poor kids
have your say