Councillor says Cork mayoral car criticism prompts thoughts of: 'Will you ever just shut up?’

The city councillor likely to be the next lord mayor of Cork has condemned as “wilful stupidity” the online commentary around Leeside’s first citizen.

Damian Boylan, Fine Gael councillor for the north-west ward, was speaking against the criticism posted online about the new car presented to Lord Mayor Fergal Dennehy by sponsors Henry Ford & Son Ltd. The presentation is an annual tradition, dating back 80 years.

The car, in this case a fully electric Ford Capri Premium, is loaned to the city and is used by the lord mayor in their official duties. It remains the property of Ford and is returned to the dealer at year’s end.

Mr Boylan is expected to succeed Mr Dennehy in June, thanks to a voting pact between the Greens, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and Labour.

He told The Echo he had seen multiple posts online criticising the presentation of the car.

“You have people claiming the lord mayor is on €200,000 per year, or he bought himself a shiny new car, or City Hall is running a luxury car scheme for politicians, all this nonsense,” he said.

“Fergal Dennehy works incredibly hard, and every lord mayor that I’ve known in the seven years that I’ve been on the council has worked incredibly hard, above and beyond what ordinary people would expect from ordinary people, and they do an extraordinary job supported by the people in City Hall.

“The fact is people don’t know what lords mayor get paid and they don’t know how they’re rewarded.

“The reward is the privilege. There is no reward in the money.”

Councillors receive a €30,000 representational allowance, and lords mayor receive an additional €30,000 mayoral allowance, both of which are fully taxable.

Mr Boylan added that councillors can claim approximately €4,000 in vouched expenses.

“I can expense adverts that I put in the paper, for instance, but they need to reflect my work as a councillor. They can’t be party political and must not mention the party of which I’m a member,” he said.

“The only thing that a lord mayor gets is the office, the support staff, an extra €30,000 mayoral allowance, and a car and a driver for official events.”

Mr Boylan said he had been moved to comment after reading “ill-informed statements” online relating to the provision of the car.

“You see all these ignorant remarks, saying, ‘Two hundred grand a year plus a free car’ and you think, ‘Will you ever just shut up?’

“Being a politician is a brilliant life in so many ways, because you get to help people, but it can be a miserable and very lonely life, too, sometimes, and sometimes it’s just too short to be putting up with wilful stupidity,” he said.

He added that some criticisms of the role of lord mayor were “entirely ill-founded”..

“This is not a ribbon-cutting hobby.

“It’s a seven-day-a-week job, with early mornings, late nights, weekends, civic events, community groups, charities, schools, businesses, funerals, launches, and representing Cork at home and abroad,” he said.

Mr Boylan added that people had every right to criticise, to disagree, and to debate, saying these were vital parts of democracy.

“But commenting without checking basic facts? That’s not scrutiny. That’s just wifi with opinions,” he said.