Are these lot really worth it?

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Because I’m worth it — Kilkenny councillor defends topping pay list
Ballyraggett councillor was paid €65,000 last year
BY DECLAN VARLEY

Ballyraggett councillor Mary Hilda Cavanagh who yesterday was named at the highest paid city or county councillor in Leinster has said she is entitled to it because she is a full-time representative who only takes seven days holidays a year.

The €65,598 paid to Cllr Cavanagh puts her at the top of the list for Leinster, while €25,093 of that figure which she received from Waterford Institute of Technology made her the highest earner in the country in terms of earnings outside of county council payouts.

She received €40,505 in salaries, allowances and expenses from Kilkenny County Council, and she received the money from WIT for sitting on interview boards on 50 days last year.

Following the publication of the figures yesterday, Cllr Kavanagh said that she is a full-time politician who is available seven days a week and who only takes one weeks holiday per year.

She added that it is that level of availability and duty that has enabled her to be elected at every election since she first became a councillor in 1974.

A member of the governing body of WIT, Cllr Kavanagh said that last year was a very busy year in terms of academic recruitment in the college and that was why she was used so often.

She added however that she pays tax on her earnings from WIT.

The report into the earnings of councillors nation-wide was undertaken by a national newspaper and included, not only the expenses and payments from the 34 city and county councils across the country, but all monies paid by eight regional authorities, two regional assemblies, eight fisheries boards, 14 colleges and six VECs.

It showed that supposedly part-time politicians were paid almost the equivalent of the average industrial worker's take home pay.


The survey of wages, allowances and expenses for city and county councillors reveals average earnings of €29,550 per councillor in 2005.

That's just €750 less than the typical worker’s pay packet, or average industrial wage, which was €30,300 last year.

In total, €730, 392 was paid to members of Kilkenny County Council last year, with the average payment that each receeivd being €28,092.

The full list for Kilkenny County Council members per electoral area is as follows:


Ballyragget

Mary Hilda Cavanagh FG €65,598

Maurice Shortall Lab €37,541

Catherine Connery FG €0,666

Pat Millea FF €25,052

John Brennan (Dan) FG €36,996


Callan

Matt Doran FF €24,844

Tom Maher FG €26,171

Billy Ireland FG €24,541


Kilkenny

John Coonan FF €23,960

Pat Fitzpatrick FF €23,757

Malcolm Noonan GP €22,515

Martin Brett (Mayor) FG €24,956

Joe Cody Lab €25,461

Michael Lanigan FF € 25,377

Paul Cuddihy FG €19,320


Piltown

Bobby Aylward FF €34,193

Pat Dunphy FG €32,055

Thomas Breathnach Lab €24,275

Dick Dowling FG €25,829

Catherine Phelan Holden FG €27,337

Cora Long FF €27,951


Thomastown

Pat O'Neill FG €24,581

Michael O'Brien Lab €24,572

Thomas Brennan FF €21,111

Dixie Doyle Ind €21,926

Ann Phelan Lab €29,807

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Mary Hilda shouldn't be on WIT board – Walsh
KILKENNY County Councillor Mary Hilda Cavanagh should not be allowed sit on the governing body of Waterford Institute of Technology because of "Nazi slurs" she made "against the city of Waterford", a member of Waterford City Council told a local radio station.
Workers Party councillor Davy Walsh said on WLRfm yesterday (Tuesday) that he could not understand how Cllr Cavanagh had been appointed to the WIT board, where she sits on interview panels.
"Somebody that never retracted a Nazi slur against the city of Waterford is sitting and adjudicating on future employment prospects of people who are going to work in an institute in Waterford," Cllr Walsh said.
He was referring to a debate which took place during a meeting of Kilkenny Co Council last year concerning Waterford City Council's attempt to annex part of south Kilkenny.
"I find it extraordinary that somebody that holds the public view as she expressed, and never retracted as far as I understand anyway, could sit on an interview board in a third-level college and draw in money of maybe a thousand euros a week," Cllr Walsh said. "I just can't get my head around it."
The Waterford city councillor was responding to figures showing that Cllr Cavanagh was paid e25,093 by WIT last year.
Most of the money was paid to her for sitting on interview boards for appointments to academic positions.
The third-level institute defended the payments to Cllr Cavanagh (FG) as she attended 50 days of interviews and brought "a wealth of experience and a valuable regional perspective".
The money Cllr Cavanagh earns from WIT is part of the e65,598 she earned last year, according to figures compiled by the Irish Independent. She was paid e40,505 by Kilkenny County Council.
This was the highest amount paid in salary, expenses and allowances to any councillor in Leinster.
02 August 2006