This article is from page 8 of the 2014-02-11 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
“WILL the Euro survive?” was one of numerous conferences, foreign trips and “fact finding missions” attended by members of Ennis Town Council during 2013 that cost the tax payer a total of € 18,000 last year.
As many as six councillors – two thirds of the council – went to Langfeld in Germany as part of a town twinning investigation trip in May at a cost of more than € 5,000 to the council coffers.
Three councillors returned in October for the twinning ceremony Mayor Cllr Mary Coote-Ryan (FG), Cllr Mary Howard (FG) and Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind) at a further cost of € 2,275.
Cllr Michael Guilfoyle (Ind) returned to the German town alone in September as part of a sporting and culture trip. The “sporting councillor” also attended the FAI Stakeholders Conference at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
The three-day “Will the Euro survive?” conference in Letterkenny, County Donegal, was attended by town mayor Coote-Ryan at a total cost of € 727.58.
In the course of the year the councillor, who was mayor from July to December attended three conferences, two trips to Langfeld in Germany – one as part of a twinning investigation trip and one for a ceremony, and fact-finding trips to markets in County Limerick, Dublin and Mayo.
Three other councillors – Cllr Tommy Brennan (Ind), Cllr Guilfoyle (Ind) and Cllr Peter Considine (FF) – also went on the market fact finding mission.
Among the other foreign trips was the six-day St Patrick’s Day trip to New York, undertaken by Cllr Brian Meaney (FF) at a cost of € 2,242.38 and a trip to Charleston by the then mayor Cllr Considine for the dedication of an Irish memorial. This cost € 1,830. Cllr Considine also attended three other conferences around Ireland during the year.