Republican News · Thursday 6 February 1997

Bloated expenses exposed

By Eoin O'Broin

Documents seen by An Phoblacht reveal that 50% of the personal expenses incurred by Strabane council are shared by just 4 councillors.

The documents confirmed a series of claims made in a leaflet distributed throughout Strabane in the past two weeks.

Unionist councillors Thomas Kerrigan and Eddie Turner recieved an estimated £36,000 during the 1995/96 financial year, while the SDLP's Lawrence McNamee and independent nationalist John Gallagher received almost £18,000. The average expenses for councillors after these sums have been deducted is around £2,500.

Local Sinn Fein representative Jarleth McNulty told An Phoblacht: ``it comes as no surprise to the ratepayers of Strabane that the local council is allowing money to be spent in this way. It has long been acknowledged that several councillors have claimed and gained large amounts of expenses, making Strabanne the most expensive council for its size in the North.''

Strabane Sinn Fein pledged to make expence accounts a major issue in the next local elections. Local Councillor Ivan Barr stressed that ``this issue will not be going away, and will not be hidden from the public. We in Sinn Fein intend to make public accountability a political issue, and councillors will be priority number one''.

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