Ballyhaunis Blog

Balyhaunis Fine Gael MEP is in the news because of his 3 day “study trip” to the sunny island of Madeira - all paid for by taxpayers.

It appears that the three-day break has nothing directly to do with Irish affairs or the constituents of Jim Higgins in Connacht-Ulster.

When contacted by the Irish Independent about the trip - Jim Higgins is reported as saying

“That’s all shite … that’s all shite if you don’t mind me saying so. That’s typical media bluster, you know. I don’t share that at all,” he told the Irish Independent.

Higgins claimed the three-day stay in a five-star hotel on the island represented value for money because of the “important work” taking place.
He said “I haven’t a clue what star it is. All I know is that it’s a very good hotel, the accommodation is wonderful, the food is lovely. For people who work so hard, we’re entitled to that. You don’t expect us to stay in B&Bs, do you?”

Mr Higgins’ ministerial pension is €5,952, and his Dail pension is €54,890. This is on top of his MEP salary of €91,984.
That’s about €152,000 in total .

All four Fine Gael MEPs, who are part of the European People’s Party (EPP), were entitled to attend this week’s “study break”. - but Mr Higgins was the only one of them to attend the conference, which kicked-off on Tuesday. The trip is being paid for by the European taxpayer. Gay Mitchell, Mairead McGuinness and Sean Kelly declined the invitation.
About 250 MEPs, 80 parliamentary assistants and 70 civil servants working for EPP went on the trip

According to the Independent - Higgins said that Madeira was chosen as a destination because of the catastrophic floods in 2009. MEPs were due to assess the damage yesterday afternoon, having discussed funds for global disasters, compensation and insurance in such situations. MEPS have also been dealing with the issues of internet access, search engines and social networks, he said.

Jim Higgins has his own Facebook page - so you can make friends with him there and tell him what you think. http://www.facebook.com/higginsmep
He has his own website too - so you can get in touch with Jim there too http://www.jimhiggins.ie/ep/contact
I wonder - would there be as many people on the trip if it was in a cold damp place ?

This would be funny if it wasn’t true. No wonder Ireland is rapidly going to the dogs.
In the recent local elections for county counillors in Ireland - a man called Michael Fahy was elected - with a large vote (exceeding his vote last time out). It was in the Loughrea electoral area in County Galway.
Nothing strange about that - but wait there’s more……
Michael Fahey has a middle nickname which is commonly used in media reports about him - he is known as “Stroke”. This is not because he likes to stroke pets. He is known as “stroke” because he is supposedly good at “pulling strokes” - i.e getting things done for people he knows or his supporters.
Now Mr Fahy it seems was also good at pulling strokes for himself - he resigned from Fianna Fáil in 2004 when it emerged that he was at the centre of a Garda investigation into a community scheme run by Galway County Council. He continued to serve as an independent councillor.

In February 2007 Cllr Fahy was convicted of seven charges in respect of the erection of more than a mile of fencing on his land. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison and fined €75,000.
He had served eight months when the Court of Criminal Appeal struck down the conviction and ordered a retrial. At the retrial two of the charges were withdrawn from the jury. Cllr Fahy was convicted of one charge of obtaining the benefit of €7,055 from Galway County Council by false pretences, and was sentenced to 12 months in prison and fined €30,000.

Now he has been re-elected by the people of Loughrea. What kind of signal does this send out to people all over the world ? It’s OK to defraud the system - we don’t care if our public representatives are using taxpayers and ratepayers money to benefit themselves. Over in England MPs are standing down because of dodgy expenses claims - but here we re-elect those that are guilty of crimes.
It is strange that he was allowed to stand for election - because according to the rules the following are disqualified from becoming members of a local authority:

“People who have been convicted of fraud or dishonest dealings, corrupt practice”
Why is he allowed to be elected? It’s probably because it is under appeal. If he loses the appeal he will have to be removed from office surely? In the meantime he can carry on getting paid to pull more strokes.
What a Country !

At the time of writing - almost all local election results for the country are in (only 24 remaining )

The national picture looks like this
Percentage of 1st Preference Votes

FG 32.2%
FF 25.4%
Others 18%
Labour 14.7%
SF 7.3%
Green 2.3%

Total Seats Won

FG 330 38.4%
FF 212 24.7%
Others 133 15.5%
Labour 129 15%
SF 52 6%
Green 3 0.03%

Now that all the counting has finished in Mayo the final picture emerges of a loss of 5 seats for Fianna Fail ( 12 reduced to 7) Fine Gael incresed seats on the council from 15 to 17. Labour lost it’s only seat.
Will these changes make any difference to life in County Mayo ? - I doubt it.

The meetings and talking and expenses claims will go on as before. The real decisions will be made by national government and the Council manager. The hundreds of councillors all over the country will cost the country millions in pay and expenses claims - for what?
In 2007 the average amount paid to a councillor (expenses and pay) was €33,300 . There are 1627 councillors - so that is a total of just over €54 million !!
Is it worth it ?
Even if all local councillors vote one way on an issue, the county or city manager is under no obligation to follow their advice. So, real power resides totally in the hands of an appointed official who is chosen not by the citizens of a county, but by an independent, civil service dominated committee.
Many councillors just use the role it as a stepping stone on the way to the Dail . Out of the current crop of 166 TDs, 122 were councillors. That is over 70% - so do not be surprised if the councillor you voted for on 5 June ends up inside the Dáil in the near future.

Some people will say they do a lot - but most of that is just local vote catching tasks , filling in forms, releasing press statements, welcoming this decision and that decision - which had nothing to do with them.
They might say they got the potholes filled - but that is the job of the council anyway. We can all ring up and ask for a pothole to be filled - we don’t need to pay soemone €17k a year to do it for us.

BALLINA ELECTORAL AREA – 6 SEATS

The following Councillors were elected

MICHELLE MULHERIN, FINE GAEL

EDDIE STAUNTON, FINE GAEL

JARLETH MUNNELLY, FINE GAEL

ANNIE MAY REAPE, FIANNA FAIL

SEAMUS WEIR, FINE GAEL

GERRY GINTY, INDEPENDENT

BELMULLET ELECTORAL AREA – 4 SEATS

MICHEAL McNAMARA, FIANNA FAIL

GERRY COYLE, FINE GAEL

MICHAEL HOLMES, INDEPENDENT

ROSE CONWAY-WALSH, SINN FEIN

CASTLEBAR ELECTORAL AREA – 7 SEATS

MICHAEL KILCOYNE, INDEPENDENT

HENRY KENNY, FINE GAEL

AL McDONNELL, FIANNA FAIL

CYRIL BURKE, FINE GAEL

EUGENE McCORMACK, FINE GAEL

BLACKIE GAVIN, FIANNA FAIL,

FRANK DURCAN, INDEPENDENT

Westport Electoral Area Results 2009 - Totals after 5 counts

Electorate: 12,420
Turnout: 67.3%
Valid Poll: 8,265

O’Malley Austin Francis FG 1830 - Elected
Flynn Peter FG 1694 - Elected
O’Malley John FG 1685 - Elected
Adams Margaret FF 1655 - Elected

Martin Keith LAB 976 - Eliminated
Navin O’Malley Caroline FF 744 - Eliminated
Wilson Andy NP 212 - Eliminated
Keating Dave SF 473 - Eliminated
King Thomas NP 69 - Eliminated

These are the Mayo County councillors elected in the Swinford area . 2009
Town of the Hardy Bucks.
Sinn Fein topped the poll and Fianna Fail have only one councillor in the Swinford area.

Figures shown are votes after 4th count

Murray Gerry SF 2218 - Elected
Lavin Eugene FG 1847 - Elected
Maloney Jimmy FF 1771 - Elected
Mellett Joe FG 1563 - Elected

Caulfield John FF 1173 - Eliminated
Healy John NP 210 - Eliminated
Henry Cathal FG 544 - Eliminated
Smyth Michael FF 1508 - Eliminated
Spain Sylvia NP 221 - Eliminated

Mayo County Council 2009 Election Results - Claremorris Area

See National Summary of results here
Only one Fianna Fail candidate manged to get elected in the now 6 seater Claremorris area - and sitting FF councillors Pat Mchugh and Michael Carty lost their places.
They will not leave empty handed though - because councillors are now entitled to a tax free golden handshake of €3300 per year of service if they lose their seat . That means Pat Mchugh will be getting a lump sum of around €70000 euro. Michael Carty will get about €13000 euro.
Even if a councillor chooses not to stand - they would still get the payout. The lump sum can be kept - even if they stand for election again and get re-elected next time. It is a strange country isn’t it? Redundancy pay for a job that you can go back to!
These payouts are taken from a 10 million euro fund set aside by the government.
(That 10 million could have paid for the cervical cancer vaccinations twice - it also equals the cost of subsidies for elderly people to secure their homes against burglary, which was abolished by the Fianna Fail led government this year)
So - there will be mixed emotions in Mayo - and all over Ireland today as losing candidates await these large payouts. Some of them have well paid jobs to fall back on - which they can now spend more time on - which may not be a bad thing in some cases.

Claremorris Electoral Area - After 5 counts (Final Count)

Quota 2113 NP = No Party

O’Brien Patsy FG 2760 - Elected
Finn Richard NP 2219 - Elected
Cribben John FG 2141 - Elected
Ryan Damien FF 2118 - Elected
Connolly Tom FG 2021 - Elected
Burke Michael FG 1999 - Elected

Carty Michael FF 1766 - Eliminated
Walsh Harry NP 1294 - Eliminated
McHugh Pat FF 1107 - Eliminated
McHale Gerard FF 691 - Eliminated

More Local Election News 2009