This article is from page 9 of the 2006-09-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 9 JPG
A SMALL group of Fianna Fáil literary sleuths are to embark upon a €2,600 expedition later this week to celebrate the work of an obscure writer.
Clare County Council has given the goahead for Cllr Tom Prendeville (FF), Cllr Cathal Crowe (FF) and Cllr Bill Chambers (FF) to set out on the 400 round mile trip to Omagh for the fifth annual Benedict Kiely weekend.
It is costing the taxpayer €867 to fund each councillor’s attendance but at a recent meeting, it was agreed that the three councillors would make the trip.
The weekend away for the councillors marks the unofficial end of the 2006 summer school season, which has cost the taxpayer almost €25,000 to send councillors to various Summer schools around the country.
The most popular summer school for councillors this year was the MacGill Summer School at Glenties in County Donegal where it cost the taxpayer €9,135 to send seven councillors – six of them from Fianna Fáil.
Those that were given the go-ahead to travel to Glenties included Cllr Peter Considine, Cllr Patrick Keane, Cllr Patrick McMahon, Cllr Bernard Hanrahan, Cllr Cathal Crowe, Cllr Tom Prendeville and the only non-Fianna Fail councillor, Cllr Martin Lafferty (Ind).
The figures show that €2,514 was spent on sending two councillors to the William Carelton Summer School, €2,102 was spent on sending two councillors to the General Humbert Summer School, while €3,996 was spent on sending four councillors to a planning seminar.
One of the regular attendees of the summer schools, Cllr Tom Prendeville said: “I find that Summer Schools are very enlightening where you are able to hear talks from people on the social and economic changes affecting Ireland. I believe that there should be a greater attendance by councillors at these conferences and it would allow councillors acquaint themselves with visionary voices that you hear at these events.”
Deputy Mayor, Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said: “A number of these conferences can be beneficial, but in terms of the Benedict Kiely weekend, I don’t believe that any benefit can be accrued either to myself in the role I perform, or to any of my constituents.”