• *URGES COUNCIL TO SPEND ON LOCAL SERVICES AND HOMELESS PROGRAMMES
• *€450,000 PER YEAR SPENT ON UNRECEIPTED EXPENSES IN DUBLIN ALONE
• *SINN FEIN BIGGEST BENEFICIARIES – OVER €100,000 PER YEAR
Dublin City Councillor, Noel Rock, has written to the Dublin City Manager Owen Keegan to advise that he will be renewing his no-expenses pledge throughout 2015, giving back his over €7,000 in expenses to Dublin City for a second consecutive year.
Speaking on the issue, Cllr. Rock said: “For me, this is a matter of principle. In 2014, I took €0 expenses and I am glad to be renewing this for the year of 2015. In the process of sending €7,200 tax-free back to the City of Dublin, I have made a number of suggestions as to how this money could be spent – these include provision of CCTV and the provision of small dog dirt disposal bags in our parks and the provision of further funding for homelessness services”.
Cllr. Rock continued: “This year, in Dublin City alone, €450,000 will be spent to fund Councillors through unvouched expenses which come tax-free with no receipts needed: it’s not right. I have written once again to the Minister in respect of the continued payment of unvouched, untransparent, unreceipted expenses and outlined once again my staunch opposition to this system.
Cllr. Rock added: “Right across the country, workers in the private sector and the public sector are expected to produce receipts for their expenses, yet on Dublin City Council – despite a full complement of administrative staff – we are told that it wouldn’t be possible to administrate such a scheme. This is nonsense. I have no issue with people getting a fair wage for fair work, but right now we have 62 Councillors getting the exact same amount of expenses, despite obviously not doing the exact same amount of work.
Cllr. Rock concluded: “It is perhaps worth noting that Sinn Fein are the biggest beneficiaries of this fund, with their group receiving over €100,000 in expenses without producing a single receipt over the course of a year – bigger than any other group on the Council. They seem keen on changing systems, except when they’re in power”.