DONEGAL COUNTY Council staff are amongst the highest paid in the country, an internal audit has found.
The Local Government Auditor found that some staff are getting salaries and bonuses much higher than nationally recommended limits.
So it meant that last year council staff trousered €11.3M in basic pay.
However the audit found that if staff had been paid according to national pay agreements they would have received just €9.9M in wages.
That means council staff in Donegal make between them €1.4M more than Government guidelines.
And – incredibly – that does NOT include overtime and other allowances which would take the rates even higher.
Union officials are trying to insist that the higher wage agreements are kept in place and meetings have taken place at the Labour Relations Agency.
However we have learned that central Government officials are looking at the issue of ‘over-payments’ and may insist on a drastic reduction in many staff salaries of up to 10%.
One council source says this could lead to industrial action.
But there are major disagreements within council over salaries and how they are paid.
Donegaldaily.com spoke to several different sources – each with their own view.
One insider in favour of keeping the higher than average salaries said: “This has gone to the Labour Relations Agency and I can’t see the council changing anything. There would be war.”
However another said: “Welcome to how local democracy works. There’s not a single councillor who will take this on because they know it will cost them votes.”
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