Donegal County Council’s workforce has fallen by 34% since 2008

The full extent of job cuts at Donegal County Council over the past 5 years was revealed day.
At todays annual budget meeting for the year ahead the county manager outlined the staffing cuts at the local authority and the impact they may have on council services since 2008.
In 2008, Donegal County Council employed a total of 1,243 staff, the council now employ 810 staff.
This reflects a reduction of 34% in employee numbers over the past five years.
As a result of the local authority cutting their workforce by just over a third since 2008, there has been a substanial reduction in payroll costs.
In 2008 they were paying out just over 68 million euro in salaries in wages, but now they are paying out just over 48 million euro, a reduction of 20 million euro.
The County Manager Seamus Neely said today that these reductions have presented a significant challange to Donegal County Council in terms of maintaining service levels.
He says the local authority need to hold the staff levels that they now have, and any if there were any more reductions then he says the council would be unable to do their job.