Call for more councils to publish details of donations given to councillors

Councils are being criticised for not publishing details of any political donations given to their councillors.

A National Integrity Index of all 31 local authorities shows that just 10 are displaying their councillors' political donations or their ethics declarations.

The Transparency International Ireland research finds Fingal and South Dublin County Councils are the most transparent, while Kerry and Westmeath Councils are the worst performing.

Their report points to Wexford, Galway County and Kilkenny councils as having seen the biggest improvements.

Overall, TI Ireland claims too few councils are open with their efforts to tackle the risk of corruption.

Speaking about the findings, Dr Elliott Jordan-Doak from TI Ireland said it is vital the public knows if their councillors are receiving donations.

He explained: "Although we did see an improvement overall, we'd like to see more councils post the donations statements and the ethics declarations of councillors - these pieces of information are crucial for ensuring transparency.

"Basically we want to know that councillors have nothing to hide."

He added: "We don't have enough money on who is funding councillors - we don't have the donation statements.

"Of course they're available in person... but, as I said, [putting] them online would be to make the whole process more transparent."

You can see the full ranking of local authorities below.

Local Authorities 2019 Results

Reporting by Shane Beatty and Stephen McNeice

Main image: Shane Beatty