It is a sign of the extent of the recession we are in that City Hall management announced that they will not take any bonuses in 2009.
The Galway City Council officials made their announcement at Monday’s city council meeting where the city budget for next year was debated and agreed.
Following this Fine Gael Cllr Brian Walsh proposed that councillors take a cut in conference expenses of €20,000 in total and that there will be no money for overseas conferences next year and this was agreed.
Green Cllr Niall Ó Brolcháin said that over the next few years the local authority will find that money “will be increasingly hard to come by”. As a result he proposed that the income from the tax on non-principal residences should remain in the hands of local authorities. This was passed unanimously.