City council forks out €37,000 on China trips

CORK CITY COUNCIL has spent almost €37,000 of public money over the last two years on seven official trips to Shanghai — its highest profile twin city.

The full extent of the lavish spending was revealed at a council meeting last night.

Independent Cllr Annette Spillane raised concerns at a time when the local authority is being forced to reduce staff, slash overtime, and is struggling to maintain services. “We should examine the possibility of using webcams to cut down the costs of some of these interactions.”