Never one to shy away from a controversy or pushing for what he believed was right, Frank Durcan threw his hat back in the local political ring last week, putting himself forward for both Castlebar Town Council and Mayo County Council elections. Durcan, who stepped away from politics five years ago, is eager to get back into the to and fro of the political game and believes that politics in the county needs a serious shake up. “The country is going down the tubes, the system has been ripped off by our politicians and our bankers. In Mayo county council there are no two parties, there has been no opposition for the past five years. It's a cosy cartel, while they drew close on €1 million a year in expenses between them, which are legally entitled to them. But it’s immoral for the amount of work they do, unless you get honesty back into politics in this country it's going to only get worse and worse.”
Durcan believes vehemently that there is no accountability for the spending of public money and things need to change so the public see where the money is being spent. “At the moment we have in the region of 66 elected representatives costing roughly between four and five million a year. There is over 500 phones issued to staff of Mayo County Council, I could keep reaming off stuff. There is no accountability in the council,” he claimed.
Time for those elected to deliver
Durcan is cutting in his indictment of the current holders of seats on the county council, and that they are not doing enough to see value for money be delivered. “The council have complete power over the expenditure of public money, the complete power over Mayo County Council, but when it comes down to the reserved functions the councillors have supreme power. They are very reluctant to use it.” The reason that nobody questions these things according to the Castlebar based auctioneer is down to the party political system. “The party political system has gone so corrupt, the whole reason to have councillors now is so the political parties will have an organisation on the ground to bring out the voters on election day.”
Changes need to be made
Serious changes need to be made in relation to planning legislation and decisions to see the economy bounce back in the county according to Durcan, and they need to stop now. “Planning is a disgrace in this county and unless we do something about it and we fast track planning applications where there is no local objections we are going to have nobody working here. The levies charged on development will have to be reduced if were going to get it back to normal. Those guys up there who are making the rules have job security. And they have little or no regard for the ordinary five-eighth and a lot of it about culturing. And each planner up there in that planning office has their own plan and their own idea. And if you gave five planners up there, there own set of plans and put them into their own room they'd come out with five different decisions.”
The payment of salaries to councillors is a major gripe Durcan has and he believes it should be dispensed with, but he will take the salary if he gets elected. “Oh I will take my expenses. But I never kept one shilling paid to me in salary or expense on my 37 years on Castlebar UDC or my 17 years on Mayo County Council. And if I'm elected to Mayo County Council and Castlebar Town Council I will divide every half-penny I get by the way of salary and expenses between the Mayo Roscommon Hospice and the Mayo Cancer Society.”
Durcan may be a controversial figure on the political scene in Mayo but he isn’t afraid to take the lonely road and he is willing to do it again. “I'm prepared to plough my own furrow and stand on my own two feet as I have always done. There is no question about it, Mayo County Council have betrayed the trust of the people, it's a great honour to be elected by the people and you should never betray that trust. And if you do then you are not worthy of re-election or seeking it, and if you rob the public purse to the extent they have of up to five million over the last five years, then none of them are worthy of being returned,” he concluded.
