STORM TRACKER: Follow 'Storm Amy' as it bears down on Ireland amid brutal forecast
Search
06 Sept 2025
Search
06 Sept 2025
Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content.
Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist.
If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter .
Support our mission and join our community now.
To continue reading this article, you can subscribe for as little as €0.50 per week which will also give you access to all of our premium content and archived articles!
Alternatively, you can pay €0.50 per article, capped at €1 per day.
Thank you for supporting Ireland's best local journalism!
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council made a reported £40K in savings on travel costs during the pandemic.
A local council has made a saving of £40,000 in travel expenses after meetings moved online during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council noted the saving in a draft response to a Department for Communities consultation on remote and hybrid working arrangements.
At a full council meeting last week, Cllr Kathleen McGurk proposed the acceptance of the draft response to the consultation.
“It was agreed on the evening we would send a response as a council body and I'm happy to propose we adopt that draft,” she said.
“I noted in the content of the draft, Democratic Services had estimated a saving of approximately £40,000 in members' travel for the year 2020-21.
“I think that's astonishing, and it gives us some quantitative evidence to what I've been harping on about the last year; that we really should be looking at remote or hybrid meetings as a way forward.”
PUP councillor Russell Watton suggested that remote meetings were diminishing the work of the council.
“Some councillors haven't been in here in two years. There are ones complaining about bad connections and stuff; they could be in here no bother,” he said.
“I think it's less of a council when you're sitting with 14 or 15 in it. I'd rather the place was sitting here full of people.
“It's alright saying 'it's Covid, it's Covid' – we're coming out of Covid hopefully. I just cant see it as a way forward at all.
“Everything is going to be that impersonal. For me, it's better being in here. You can see what's going on, you can tell what people think.
“I thought it was Old Trafford there, because there's nobody going there at the minute. It's dire in here. I would rather have 40 in here than sitting here with 14.”
A vote taken on Cllr McGurk's motion was passed by 22 votes to 12.
Subscribe or register today to discover more from DonegalLive.ie
Buy the e-paper of the Donegal Democrat, Donegal People's Press, Donegal Post and Inish Times here for instant access to Donegal's premier news titles.
Keep up with the latest news from Donegal with our daily newsletter featuring the most important stories of the day delivered to your inbox every evening at 5pm.
This publication supports the work of the Press Council of Ireland and Office of the Press Ombudsman, and our staff operate within the Code of Practice of the Press Council. You can obtain a copy of the Code, or contact the Council, at www.presscouncil.ie, Lo-call 1800 208 080 or email: info@presscouncil.ie.
