BYCRONANSCANLON
A Raphoe businessman said he is "stunned" that senior managers in Donegal County Council have been pocketing ¤10,000 per year in performance related bonuses.
Mr Seamus Connolly, whose premises were damaged in last month's floods, was speaking after seven managers in the council shared more than ¤74,000 under a little known scheme.
The bonus scheme, designed to reward exceptional performance, is open to county council managers and directors of services across the country.
A huge amount of damage was caused when a flash flood hit Ireland's highest town.
The anger of local people had been directed at senior council engineers who, they claim, were warned for years about the inadequate storm drainage infrastructure in the area.
Locals claim this is the seventh time in 30 years there has been flooding in the Raphoe area with the last such incident happening as recently as September.
A drain which was blocked by the unauthorised demolition of a nearby house is also adding to the problem in William Street, locals claim.
Mr Connolly, who owns Castle Cycles and the Castle Cafe on William Street, was adamant the managers do not deserve their bonuses.
"Of course they don't deserve it, if they gave me ten grand I could fix the flooding problem in no time," fumed Mr Connolly.
"That does not seem right. Self praise is no praise. That windfall does not sound right to me, I am stunned to hear that. The council should be run like a private business instead of public money being wasted. I seen 16 council men digging a hole in Raphoe one day and they did not even tar over it when they finished," he concluded.
In 2005, eight senior council managers shared almost ¤70,000 between them under the same scheme which was set up in 2003.
A breakdown of figures for 2003 and 2004 are not available, however, the majority of City and County Managers and other management staff received similar awards for those years.
The seven directors of services and the county manager were also paid a combined total of ¤83,097.63 in expenses for 2005.
All 274 managers nationwide who applied for a bonus received one, according to the annual report of the Committee for Performance Awards.
Of the 274 people who received bonuses, 265 were rewarded within the same band of 5 -12 per cent of salary. In cash terms, most received between ¤5,000 and ¤13,000.
As with a similar scheme for senior civil servants, all local authority managers who applied for the scheme were adjudged to have exceeded demanding targets.
The vast majority exceeded their targets to a remarkably similar degree. The Committee review self-assessments of performance by managers.
