Mayo council chief labelled a Scrooge by Westport councillor

The Chief Executive of Mayo County Council was branded a 'Scrooge' and 'Dr No' and accused of running the local authority's finances like the Troika when they were in Ireland.

The manner in which Mayo County Council was being run was criticised by two Westport councillors who claimed that the current system of local government was not delivering for the people.

Fine Gael councillor Peter Flynn told the monthly meeting of Westport/Belmullet Municipal District that the local authority was understaffed, underfunded and under-resourced and it was impacting on the delivery of services for people living in the county.

He claimed that council staff hands were tied in what they can do and it was because the Chief Executive, Kevin Kelly was imposing rules on spending similar to when 'the whole country was bust and the troika were in here'.

“Look at the money coming into this country with exchequer funding surpluses but here we have Mayo County Council playing like it is 2010 when the country was on its knees. I have talked to councillors beyond Mayo and nobody is feeling the pain that we are feeling right now.

“Something seriously is rotten in the state of Denmark the way Mayo County Council is right now in terms of its finances. We are operating at 2010 rules when the Troika was in this country and it is just not right.

“Dr No is now the title of our Chief Executive and that is a sad indictment of where we are as an organisation. I take no pleasure in saying that but it is not fair to councillors, to staff and it is certainly not fair to the people of Mayo. It cannot be continued,” he told the meeting.

Fellow Westport-based councillor Christy Hyland said that the Local Government Reform Act 2014 which abolished the town councils is not working for local people. He claimed that a European committee compared the local government system in Ireland to Hungary and Moldova and it was time for changes to be made.

“It is my view we would be better off here if we had a borough council like they have around Europe and funding raised here and stays here. Run it like the town council who were a rating authority with funding raised in the town staying in the town,” he said.

He said that Mr Kelly is a lovely man but is also a Scrooge who will spend nothing and it is the councillor's who get the blame.

“There are people out there who want to be councillors who don't understand at all. They will do the devil and all when elected but I would urge them to study the reform of local government in 2014 and what we had prior to 2014. They might learn a few things rather than making wishful promises to people they cannot keep. Our hands are tied with the local government reform of 2014 and we must comply with it,” the Independent councillor said.