Call for no pay or expenses for councillors ignores lessons of history

Brendan Ronayne says that city and county councillors should receive no pay and no expenses (Letters, Nov 19).

His letter is a good illustration of the selective amnesia that has taken hold among a large section of the public since the beginning of the recession.

During the 1970s and 1980s, all councillors worked for free and received no salary. In Dublin, this resulted in a large number of councillors being influenced by wealthy individuals who wanted planning decisions. This is why it was decided to pay councillors a basic wage and expenses in the late 1990s, and yet this is the situation which Mr Ronayne wants to return us to.

The hysterical debate on this issue in recent years seems to suggest that many people won’t be happy until all politicians work for free, write their own letters in a quill and ink, and deliver all of their own letters by hand.

All ministers will work without any staff and drive themselves to Government events seven days a week.

This race to the bottom could only lead us to the situation which now exists in the US, where local government is open to huge influence from big business and vested interests, and where national politics is dominated by the super-wealthy individuals who are the only citizens who can afford to run for office and work as full-time politicians.

If all of our politicians received no salary or expenses, how could any unemployed person or a parent supporting a family hope to run for elected office?

And why would the best and brightest in the private sector abandon their jobs to enter politics?

Quite literally, 90% of the population would be barred from entering politics because they simply could not afford to do so.

Certainly, the pay and expenses of our politicians needs to be more transparent and accountable.

But it is vital for our democracy that people who make important decisions on our behalf are paid a fair wage which attracts them into public life and keeps them out from under the influence of individuals who know how to use money to abuse the political process.

Barry Walsh

Brooklawn

Clontarf

Dublin 3