‘Accepting pay rise would be slap in face for struggling families’

SDLP Councillor Rory Farrell has said it would be “a slap in the face” for families struggling to make ends meet if councillors accepted a pay rise.

Speaking at Council’s Governance & Strategic Planning committee where an updated Scheme of Allowances from the Department for Communities proposed an increase in Councillors’ Basic Allowance from £15,071 to £15, 757, the Ballyarnett representative said,

“The SDLP’s position is that we should reject this pay rise. We rejected last year’s pay rise and our position has not changed since.

“Families across this city and district are struggling with the cost of living. We have Council workers who have been recently on strike arguing for better pay and better terms & conditions and people in general are getting it really, really tight.

“We shouldn’t accept the pay rise. We should stand in solidarity with families across the city and district and reject this increase.

“Accepting it would be a slap in the face for families and individuals struggling to make ends meet. So, we shouldn’t accept the pay rise.”

Cllr Farrell added: “I’m going to make a formal proposal and that is that we do not adopt the updated Scheme of Allowances, excluding the Dependants’ Carers’ Allowance uplift.

“In terms of the basic allowance for councillors, we should not be increasing that, but the increase in place for carers – yes, we should. So, that’s a formal proposal.”

The proposal gained unanimous support and will be ratified at Full Council.​

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