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 John Gormley TD and leader of The Green Party John Gormley showed signs of real leadership today by announcing limits on spending by local councillors.
Under the new regime city and county councillors will be limited to €4,700 per year; borough councillors €3,000; councillors from larger towns €2,000; and councillors from smaller towns to €1,000.
The new limits will not apply to councils which spent less than these amounts last year. In those cases the actual amount spent in 2009 will apply as the limit.
The limits are aimed at achieving better value for money and tackling spending in excess of €13,000 per councillor per year in some cases. They follow on a 25% cut in travel and subsistence allowances applied to councillors earlier this year.
Some councillors were guilty of widespread abuse of the expenses system by signing into conferences and then quickly departing the event in pursuit of personal business.
Announcing the measure Mr. Gormley said the new limits were not spending targets for councillors. He stressed that most councillors behaved responsibly when spending taxpayers’ money but there were concerns about a minority.
“I expect all councillors to uphold the highest standards of behaviour when it comes to paying taxpayers’ money.”
The new limits will be made by ministerial regulation and follow consultation with councillors’ representatives. Mr Gormley met local representatives last September and received a written submission in November.
Good one John, we now wait with bated breath to see if you have the necessary leadership qualities to implement this necessary change.
Question: How did our Tipperary Public Representatives fair out on the old expenses gravy train during 2009.
Answer: Not bad at all when compared to 133,700 people who lost their jobs this year.
North Tipperary Deputy Michael Lowry topped the poll for claiming the highest expenses for an Independent member of Dail Eireann in 2009 according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act and published by the Sunday Independent newspaper.
 The Dail in Summer Amounts published relate generally to the period from December 1st, 2008, to December 1st, 2009,
The first count reads as follows:
Deputy Michael Lowry (Ind) €82,448.
Deputy Tom Hayes (FG) €72,815 Euro.(Includes his €16,018 Oireachtas Allowance.)
Deputy Mattie McGrath (FF) €66,601.
Deputy Noel Coonan (FG) €66,035.
Deputy Maire Hoctor (FF) €39,150.
In last place, South Tipperary Junior Minister Dr. Martin Mansergh (FF) failing to reach the quota with just a miserable €8,888.
Non-Government Oireachtas members for Tipperary seemed to do far better overall expenses wise, with Fine Gael claiming almost €138,850 Euro between their two representatives, while Fianna Fail only managed just €114,639 between their three representatives.
The 166 TDs in Dail Eireann during 2009, claimed almost €8m in largely tax-free unvouched expenses/ allowances or over €78,000 for every day the parliament was in session.
Here’s hoping that they all shop local.
Last Wednesday’s Budget should have been strongly centred on job creation and sustainability but instead failed miserably to help unemployed people or employees holding onto a job by their fingernails, according to Deputy Noel Coonan. The Fine Gael TD also said this Government has effectively cancelled Christmas for a majority of the people of North Tipperary.
 Deputy Noel Coonan Deputy Noel Coonan stated:
“As a result of the Budget, we have people living on less than €100 a week. We have 315,000 public servants nationwide taking a pay cut. We have extremely irate parents suffering 4% cuts in Social Welfare. We are going to have riots on the streets and heavy industrial action. We are facing one of the worse winters in the history of the state.
The Government has pick-pocketed the most poor and sick with prescription charges for medical card holders, an increase in the drugs payment threshold and a mere €10million for home care packages. The €221million cut to child benefit will rob families of €16 per child per month and will not help get this country back to work.
The farming community has sadly been attacked once again with a 13% cut in the Department’s Budget. To ease some of the pain for this vital sector, Fine Gael called for the Government to exempt farm diesel from the carbon tax but in return they slapped 4cent on every litre. Another sector that is struggling badly are thousands of home owners who are in negative equity and under huge worry and stress. This Government has provided no real help for these people.
Who would have ever thought Fianna Fáil would stoop so low to take money off blind people and widows by reducing their pension? Meanwhile, they failed to bring those on highest incomes further into the tax net. Where is the fairness and equality in that?”
The Fine Gael Deputy went on to said that not even the lowest of the low paid will escape a wage cut. Part-time public sector workers not in the tax net and earning less than €18,500 will face a 5% drop in take-home pay, almost twice as much as a Minister for State.
Continue reading The Low Paid Shoulder The Burdens Of The December Budget
 Batt O'Keeffe's Letter to Deputy Lowry Backbencher Ms Maire Hoctor TD, who was sacked as a Junior Minister by Taoiseach Brian Cowen last year, was not present for a number of tight votes in Dail Eireann recently.
Truth is that in the past three weeks Ms Hoctor has only voted possibly twice out of 18 votes which were signalled. This includes one vote last week that saw the Government scrape through by a meagre two votes.
The Tipperary North TD is a constituency colleague of Independent TD Michael Lowry, who claims to have his own private deal with the Fianna Fail Government. This deal, which has seen Mr Lowry claim credit for a series of capital projects in Ms Hoctor’s constituency, is said to be quietly causing serious tension in the Fianna Fail camp. Political whispers claim Ms Hoctor is growing increasingly unset with the way in which Mr Lowry was being allowed to wheel and deal with the Boss, her party leader, Brian Cowen.
A spokesman for the Government Chief Whip Pat Carey last night said he was aware Ms Hoctor did not vote on a number of recent issues. So was Ms Hoctor given a pairing by the whips office so that she could miss the string of votes? We can’t confirm, but ahead of tomorrow’s important Budget vote, Mr Carey has implemented a three-line whip which requires the presence of all Fianna Fail TDs.
According to the local scholarly political pundits “Presently, every pothole patched in the constituency of North Tipperary, credit is claimed by Michael Lowry. Anything of a positive nature that is implemented or promised, he’s claiming it’s part of this special deal with Brian Cowan”.
While the Government is still expected to win the majority of the votes tomorrow, thus avoiding an immediate General Election, the result would be very tight without the presence of Ms Hoctor.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch in North Tipperary yesterday, Deputy Michael Lowry has welcomed confirmation from the Minister for Education and Science, Mr Batt O’Keefe TD that Scoil Nasuinta Cronain Naofa at Dromakeenan, just outside Roscrea in Ms Hoctor’s neck of the coral, has got the go ahead for their long awaited building project. The scale of works approved is for a three classroom extension, a new GP room, along with refurbishment and associated works on the older parts of the school.
In the coming days the Building unit of the Department of Education will contact the school to allow them to issue the ‘Letter of Acceptance’ that will enable them to award the building contract to the winning building tender. It is hoped that works will be completed over the summer holidays at the end of the current school year.
Deputy Lowry stated:
“I am delighted that building will finally commence for this project, as they have been waiting for the go-ahead since 2007. The school has proven itself to be very progressive in recent years, and has set up an autism unit that serve the people of Roscrea and its surrounds. I have been working with the school and with other public representatives to get a favourable outcome on this case and the Ministerial order (See Above) that has been issued today comes on foot of a concerted lobbying campaign dating back two years since the contractor had been selected in 2007.”
Following on from the disturbing Murphy Report recently published, which deals with child sex abuse in the diocese of Dublin, the Minister of State for Children, Mr Barry Andrews TD is proposing that the Garda Central Vetting Unit, currently based in Thurles, be put on a statutory basis with responsibility for the management of all soft and hard information relevant to allegations or suspicions of child abuse in the State.
 Barry Andrews TD This statutory body, now proposed, would run similar to the layout of the present Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB, An Biúró um Shócmhainní Coiriúla) and the first stages of a bill is currently being prepared, in co-operation with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, for eventual presentation to the Government.
The proposed agency will be led by the Gardaí, with the HSE, Revenue Commissioners, Department of Social and Family Affairs and other relevant support groups working closely under their leadership.
This expected legislation will automatically take into account each persons constitutional rights, the right to equality before the law, the right to privacy, the right to a good name, and the right to earn a livelihood.
Contrary to popular belief the Thurles Garda Central Vetting Unit, which was decentralised to Thurles, Co.Tipperary in 2007, does not provide clearance for persons to work with children, vulnerable adults or any other capacity. The function of the Garda Vetting Unit and the vetting process has been to disclose details regarding all prosecutions, whether successful or not, whether pending or completed, and – or all convictions.
It will therefore be interesting to see how this proposed new body will co-exist if approved by government.
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