Four hundred councillors from throughout the Republic gathered in Sligo at the end of last month for the General Council of County Councils' seminar on the hot topic Planning - Progress or Paralysis? They registered on Friday evening and spent the night in the luxury of the Sligo Park Hotel and Leisure Centre.
But only about 120 turned up to hear Irish Times environment correspondent Frank McDonald and the other speakers the next day. Quidnunc wonders did all 400 claim their expenses for what was meant to be an educational exercise? Yellow forms were distributed on which they could detail their much-valued and generous mileage allowances - 56.81p per mile for cars with engines under 1,138 cc and a whopping 79.12p per mile for councillors who travelled to Sligo in larger cars. Calculators must have been on overdrive working it all out; for those travelling from Cork in a two-litre car, the trip was worth at least £330. Anyone foolish enough to use public transport had to submit tickets or receipts.
Could it be that the low attendance at the seminar indicates that that the councillors are weary of it all, having been in office far longer than they, or anyone else expected? They were elected in 1991 and now, courtesy of a further postponement of local government elections by the present Government, will be in situ until June, 1999.