Councillors’ pay - Focus on performance

IN his An Bord Snip report Colm McCarthy suggested that we have too many local authorities.

Like our Government, many of our local authorities have huge debts and it is unlikely that any of them will undertake any non-essential projects in the immediate future.

As in so many spheres restructuring seems desirable. One of the areas certain to come under review is councillors’ pay. Today we publish details of city and county councillors’ pay, which has fallen significantly in the last two years. The bill for the entire country last year was €23.5 million. Politicians’ incomes, and especially politicians’ early pensions, have come under fire and some progress has been made.

Though some packages were excessive and must be cut we should not lose sight of the fact that performance and delivery are the more important issues.