Free tickets to 1100th Bash for City Councillors

LiamD1977

Was talking to a mate of mine works in City Council about the 1100th bash on tonight. We were talking about the fact that its sold out at 600 tickets. I thought this was great and then he told me that about 80 tickets had been given free to City Council staff ( thirty for all the councillors and their other halves and the rest to staff).

I thought this was unusuall and he said that the Councillors get free tickets to most events.

Now I don't mind the councillors getting invited to some events but with the money they are on I would expect them to pay their own way.

If I had paid a €100 in for and the girlfriend I Would be fairly annoyed.

What does everyone else think ?

wmpdd3

If they paid theyd just claim it under expenses.

A long as bik is paid on the tickets I see no issue

wellboytoo

I would imagine any of the elected officials after being at probably 30 of these type of giG's since January , would have a major problem seeing the benefit.
Get real people these things become a total pain in the arse after the first half dozen.

Smiley Burnett

Great to see 2014 taking up where 2013 left off!!! moan and whinge followed by a good old crib!! This reminds of the time a council delegation were criticised for travelling overseas to secure the return of the tall ships!! and we all know what that was worth to the city!!!

0rt

no matter what happens.. Its all a good old boys club, they look after each other, if your not in the click you wont get a job.
your taught how to work the money / system.

Nypd

ffs lads get a grip, what is wrong with you people, it was hosted by the mayor with some local bands playing hardly an all expenses paid trip for 60 of them to New York.

moans3536

Just out of interest how did the city council big bash , what was the atmosphere like, what bands played etc

7upfree

Ya know, for once it would have been nice to see all the tickets distributed to ordinary citizens via a lottery. But that would have been too much to expect I suppose.:rolleyes:

7upfree

Smiley Burnett wrote: »

Great to see 2014 taking up where 2013 left off!!! moan and whinge followed by a good old crib!! This reminds of the time a council delegation were criticised for travelling overseas to secure the return of the tall ships!! and we all know what that was worth to the city!!!

And how, pray tell, was the issuing of tickets to Councillors and their cronies going to "benefit the city" in this instance? It smacks of a detached arrogance which is, to be honest, grossly offensive.

Crusty Blaa

moans3536 wrote: »

Just out of interest how did the city council big bash , what was the atmosphere like, what bands played etc

It was a great evening. Some lovely food, music and drink in a fantastic venue. Great buzz about the place. The only band I seen were The Jam Tarts but there were others. It was worth the ticket price.

Smiley Burnett

fair play to the city council for putting on such an event to showcase the city....I also look forward to reading positive posts on here regarding the thousands of euro which will be raised for worthy causes by the city councillors involved in organising the Annual Mayor's Ball...but then again, I wont be holding my breath!!...only misery and moaning allowed on these pages it seems!!!

wellboytoo

7upfree wrote: »

Ya know, for once it would have been nice to see all the tickets distributed to ordinary citizens via a lottery. But that would have been too much to expect I suppose.:rolleyes:

No new year resolutions then????????????

deiseabu

Was a super night top class food, amazing venue and great buzz there - full credit to all involved.

7upfree

Smiley Burnett wrote: »

fair play to the city council for putting on such an event to showcase the city....I also look forward to reading positive posts on here regarding the thousands of euro which will be raised for worthy causes by the city councillors involved in organising the Annual Mayor's Ball...but then again, I wont be holding my breath!!...only misery and moaning allowed on these pages it seems!!!

Yawn. Here we go again. A love-in.:D

Sully

I see absolutely no problem with the people who represent our great city being given complimentary tickets to a celebration for our great city.

deiseabu

7upfree wrote: »

Yawn. Here we go again. A love-in.:D

You are some bitter little troll 7upforfree

Dicky Pride

People will really complain about anything. It's not just the councillors that got free tickets ya know. Media types and others did too. Same for lots of other events thorough out the year.

And apparently staff in hasbro get a board game at Christmas and Waterford crystal staff get discounts on crystal products. And what's that? McDonald's staff can eat free? It's terrible billy, what about the rest of us!?

LiamD1977

I see absolutely no problem with the people who represent our great city being given complimentary tickets to a celebration for our great city.

@ Sully, But they are given tickets to everything organised by WCC, Harvest , Mayors Ball , Tall Ships etc. What does this cost the city ?

I am not being negative for negative sake but between salary and expenses some of our councillors bring home more than 50k , surely they could support these events out of their own pocket.

What bugs me is the sense of entitlement that is present in WCC.

Dicky Pride

LiamD1977 wrote: »

@ Sully, But they are given tickets to everything organised by WCC, Harvest , Mayors Ball , Tall Ships etc. What does this cost the city ?

I am not being negative for negative sake but between salary and expenses some of our councillors bring home more than 50k , surely they could support these events out of their own pocket.

What bugs me is the sense of entitlement that is present in WCC.

Not just Waterford City Council...every City Council on the planet. Stop complaining about things that are just not important will ya?

You sound like you have a bit of a sense of entitlement yourself there.

saintchrisburg

When councillors are at events for the city and/or sponsored by the council, then (in my point of view) they are working and rightly don't have to pay to attend. Imagine the remarks they'd get if they DIDN'T go - particularly if it was because they didn't want to pay the ticket cost. It's like if you go to a business lunch at a nice restaurant with a client and your company picks up the tab, sure you enjoy it but you're still representing the company and working...

Hoffmans

Were the 60 tickets used then, since the city council have their own booking company for events now that should be an easy question to answer, reason. Being plenty of people were looking for tickets after it was "sold out..."

LiamD1977

From speaking to people that were at it I don't believe it was full.

Max Powers

i think what we should be doing is asking councillors to publish their expenses, with local elections coming up, that would give a good indication of where the millions go and whos fond of 'training' courses in Killarney, trips to the USA etc.

This info may already be available but it certainly aint easily accessible.

LiamD1977

@ Max agree 100% expenses should be out in the open. I remember last September that the Indo published a breakdown of expenses for all councillors. cant seem to find it online though,

Just today the PAC is hearing about expenses paid out by WIT ,

From the Examiner

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/councillor-on-wit-body-defends-57k-expenses-254154.html

"Figures supplied by WIT to the Dáil Public Accounts committee show Mary Hilda Cavanagh received the vast majority of all fees and expenses totalling almost €79,000 paid to local authority representatives on the institute’s governing body, as well as WIT chairman Redmond O’Donoghue, over the past three and a half years.

Ms Cavanagh, a Fine Gael member of Kilkenny County Council, was paid €56,513 during the period.

A former secondary school teacher, she received €32,100 for chairing interview panels at WIT as well as €14,554 in related travel expenses. In addition, she was paid €9,859 in travel expenses for attending meetings of WIT’s governing body.

Details of the payments, which were supplied by WIT president Ruaidhrí Neavyn to the PAC, show Ms Cavanagh received twice as much as the combined fees and expenses paid to eight other local authority representatives on the institute’s governing body. "

7upfree

Dicky Pride wrote: »

People will really complain about anything. It's not just the councillors that got free tickets ya know. Media types and others did too. Same for lots of other events thorough out the year.

And apparently staff in hasbro get a board game at Christmas and Waterford crystal staff get discounts on crystal products. And what's that? McDonald's staff can eat free? It's terrible billy, what about the rest of us!?

McDonalds and Hasbro are not funded by the taxpayer…….:rolleyes:

7upfree

Sully wrote: »

I see absolutely no problem with the people who represent our great city being given complimentary tickets to a celebration for our great city.

No surprises there then.:) While you and the other FGers applaud their treatment of the aforementioned great city.

7upfree

deiseabu wrote: »

You are some bitter little troll 7upforfree

Blah blah. Sticks & stones etc. Won't change the issue at hand.

7upfree

LiamD1977 wrote: »

I am not being negative for negative sake but between salary and expenses some of our councillors bring home more than 50k , surely they could support these events out of their own pocket.

Of course you're not. But the FG fanboys on here will accuse you of it anyway.;)

invalid

All the above makes me wonder, why do we do the electing anyone at all? i mean, as far as a lot of you are concerned anyone we elect is just in it for the perks and the money, not for any other reason.

Get real, the Waterford 1100 birthday bash was a civic event hosted and paid for by Waterford City Council, it is only right and proper that those whom have been chosen in a free and fair election by the people of Waterford be there. Do we simply ignore them? We elect councillors, and TDs to represent us, that means they don't just answer our phone calls about parking fines and planning permissions but also go to the civic events. There are few enough perks being a councillor, god only knows why a lot of them bother. Councillors don't have the luxury of sitting on their arses when they are elected, but have spend there limited time running around helping their constituents, volunteering and generally working for little enough pay.

So when you winge about them getting tickets to an event , basically it is jealousy on your part really, you wanted to go but either couldn't afford the ticket or didn't want to pay. At least be honest and admit that.

[rant]Oh, a general point:
As for the huge paybill that politicians cost, again get f**king real people. Democracy costs money and running a country costs money, end of story. There are plenty thing wrong with our political structures, but hey a major one is our childish and cynical attitude to those who actually stand up for election. There is no shining examples of a utopia out there to ape, Politicians are us, ordinary people trying to live there life and maybe just achieve something and we as a people need to own up that fact. And like us they are flawed, show me the perfect person and i will show you a liar. [/rant]

7upfree

invalid wrote: »

Get real, the Waterford 1100 birthday bash was a civic event hosted and paid for by Waterford City Council, the taxpayer, everyday, ordinary people

The taxpayer - just to clarify.

invalid wrote: »

There are few enough perks being a councillor, god only knows why a lot of them bother.

Sweet Jesus. Seriously.:rolleyes:

invalid wrote: »

So when you winge about them getting tickets to an event , basically it is jealousy on your part really, you wanted to go but either couldn't afford the ticket or didn't want to pay. At least be honest and admit that.

Far from it. I for one would love to see an amount of ordinary people - for once - allowed represent the City at these things. Not a bunch of talking heads.

invalid wrote: »

Oh, a general point:
As for the huge paybill that politicians cost, again get f**king real people. Democracy costs money and running a country costs money, end of story. There are plenty thing wrong with our political structures, but hey a major one is our childish and cynical attitude to those who actually stand up for election. There is no shining examples of a utopia out there to ape, Politicians are us, ordinary people trying to live there life and maybe just achieve something and we as a people need to own up that fact. And like us they are flawed, show me the perfect person and i will show you a liar.

Christ, are you ACTUALLY that naive?? After what's happened in this country. "Democracy costs money"; "Ordinary people"…..on 100k+ a year. While the Taoiseach earns more than Obama? Yep. You're right. Completely ordinary people.

I'm guessing you're in your early 20s and trying to break into politics. As you say yourself - get real. And recognise what's going on around you. FFS.:rolleyes:

7upfree

Dicky Pride wrote: »

Not just Waterford City Council...every City Council on the planet. Stop complaining about things that are just not important will ya?

You sound like you have a bit of a sense of entitlement yourself there.

He's bloody well entitled to complain about the Golden circle that masquerades as "politics" in this country. More than. Unlike the mugs who defend it.