This article is from page 9 of the 2006-01-17 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 9 JPG
PAYMENTS totalling €170,000 made to senior county council staff, including planners, were legal, above board and part of a national plan.
But elected council members have sharply criticised the manager for not saying where the money came from.
At a meeting of the council last night, Cllr Tom Prendeville called on the manager to reveal who the payments were made to and state where the money for them came from.
Cllr Prendeville said he was not satisfied with the explanation that the payments were part of a national bonus scheme, paid to professional grades and performance related.
“Are we going back to the dark ages where a culture of secrecy prevails?” he asked.
“This is public money being spent and we have a right to know whether the money was paid out of our budget, if it was, how was the criteria for payment met and what programme suffered because of it?”
Cllr Patricia McCarthy said that the bonus scheme was to be welcomed. “We are losing planners all the time.
“They work all hours and Saturdays and Sundays to clear the work load and there is no overtime or other incentive.”
Cllr Colm Wiley said that the current planners were working overtime to “solve the problems left by some of those who have moved on.”
County Manager, Alec Fleming said that 15 planners were paid a bonus of €7,500 each and bonuses were also paid to himself and a number of other senior officials.
The scheme is identical to schemes operating in every other local authority, he said. “We have a rule that says if a decision on an application is not made within eight weeks, it goes by default and without any conditions so we had to ask the planners to work extra time because of that.
“There was no other option.”
He added that a Government committee decides on whether managers and senior executives have met the criteria for their bonuses.
A ruling had already been made by the information Officer that further details of the scheme could not be the subject of a Freedom Of Information request.