'Disgrace': Aaron Kiely, who appeared to oppose the extradition of Abu Hamza, has been criticised for his lack of attendance at Thurrock Council meetings . A Labour councillor who opposed the extradition of hate cleric Abu Hamza has been branded 'disgraceful' after it emerged he pocketed nearly £7,000 of taxpayers' money despite only attending one half hour council meeting this year. Aaron Kiely, 20, has so far earned £6,667 this year from Thurrock Council, but has only made the one appearance at the mayor-making ceremony in May. And fellow councillors were left . fuming when he publicly threw his support behind the bid to halt the . extradition of hate cleric Abu Hamza to the United States. Current rules mean Mr Kiely must only attend one other full council meeting between now and next May to avoid triggering an automatic by-election. Frustrated fellow councillor Lynn Carr slammed Mr Kiely, claiming he has not been representing the people of his ward in South Ockendon, Essex. She accused him of neglecting the concerns of residents in favour of his £20,000 role as black students officer at the National Union of Students. She raged: 'Cllr Kiely’s attendance record is a disgrace and shows utter contempt for the people of Ockendon who elected him to be their voice in the council chamber. 'Cllr Kiely isn’t trusted to be on any committees this year after he missed half his meetings last year. 'He only has to turn up to one meeting per month, but so far he’s missed all but one of them this year. This month, he was at a student union committee meeting instead. Defeat: Egyptian-born Abu Hamza was extradited to the U.S last week and has appeared in court already . 'Ockendon residents elected him hoping he would bring youthful energy and enthusiasm to the role - instead, he’s missing in action.' To cover the costs of fulfilling their public duties, all 49 Thurrock councillors are paid a basic attendance allowance each year, of £8,000.83. Frustration came to a head this week when Mr Kiely appeared to criticise the deportation of hate cleric Abu Hamza by tweeting: 'British government deporting British citizens to the bastion of human rights that is the USA #shame' It is not the first time he has caused controversy through his official Twitter account @aaron-kiely. In August last year 2011 he was forced to release a grovelling apology after comments he made defending London rioters and describing the Metropolitan Police 'institutionally racist'. Support: Mr Kiely appeared to oppose the extradition of hate cleric Hamza when he posted this tweet . Mrs Carr continued: 'He manages to find time to condemn the decision to deport Abu Hamza and accuse the police of "brutal tactics", but not stand up for the people of Ockendon - he’s an utter disgrace. 'When Cllr Kiely was elected he promised that he would be there for local people, but this promise has been cynically broken. 'This makes me angry; when you make someone a promise, it should be kept.' Mr Kiely was voted in as one of three councillors for the South Ockendon ward in May last year 2011. Since the beginning of this year 2012 he has failed to attend meetings in January, February, March, June, July and September. Bried encounter: Mr Kiely has only attended one meeting this year as councillor for South Ockendon at Thurrock Council . Meetings in April were suspended due to the local elections while there was not a full council meeting in August due to the summer break. He has earned almost £3,000 since he last turned up at full council in May. Embarrassingly, if Mr Kiely had been on Thurrock council’s youth cabinet - whose members are unpaid - he would have already been given the boot as members are not allowed to miss more than three consecutive meetings without good reason. The Labour leader of the Thurrock Council, John Kent, has now launched an investigation, warning that the young representative faces suspension. Last night he said: 'We have been supportive of Aaron, but he has fallen short of the standards that we believe should be met. 'Consequently the Labour group now has no option but to take appropriate action against Cllr Kiely and will be investigating issues, including some of the views that he has chosen to put in the public domain. 'We will look at the appropriateness of those comments and of his contribution to the Labour group, his ward residents and the council. 'It is likely that we will seek his suspension from the Labour group while that investigation is undertaken by the appropriate people. What the outcome will be beyond that would be unfair to speculate on at this time.' Despite repeated attempts to contact him for a response, Mr Kiely was unavailable for comment today.
Aaron Kiely, 20, has earned £6,667 so far this year but has only attended one Thurrock Council meeting .
Mr Kiely last week tweeted in opposition of extraditing cleric Abu Hamza to the U.S.
'Disgrace': Aaron Kiely, who appeared to oppose the extradition of Abu Hamza, has been criticised for his lack of attendance at Thurrock Council meetings . A Labour councillor who opposed the extradition of hate cleric Abu Hamza has been branded 'disgraceful' after it emerged he pocketed nearly £7,000 of taxpayers' money despite only attending one half hour council meeting this year. Aaron Kiely, 20, has so far earned £6,667 this year from Thurrock Council, but has only made the one appearance at the mayor-making ceremony in May. And fellow councillors were left . fuming when he publicly threw his support behind the bid to halt the . extradition of hate cleric Abu Hamza to the United States. Current rules mean Mr Kiely must only attend one other full council meeting between now and next May to avoid triggering an automatic by-election. Frustrated fellow councillor Lynn Carr slammed Mr Kiely, claiming he has not been representing the people of his ward in South Ockendon, Essex. She accused him of neglecting the concerns of residents in favour of his £20,000 role as black students officer at the National Union of Students. She raged: 'Cllr Kiely’s attendance record is a disgrace and shows utter contempt for the people of Ockendon who elected him to be their voice in the council chamber. 'Cllr Kiely isn’t trusted to be on any committees this year after he missed half his meetings last year. 'He only has to turn up to one meeting per month, but so far he’s missed all but one of them this year. This month, he was at a student union committee meeting instead. Defeat: Egyptian-born Abu Hamza was extradited to the U.S last week and has appeared in court already . 'Ockendon residents elected him hoping he would bring youthful energy and enthusiasm to the role - instead, he’s missing in action.' To cover the costs of fulfilling their public duties, all 49 Thurrock councillors are paid a basic attendance allowance each year, of £8,000.83. Frustration came to a head this week when Mr Kiely appeared to criticise the deportation of hate cleric Abu Hamza by tweeting: 'British government deporting British citizens to the bastion of human rights that is the USA #shame' It is not the first time he has caused controversy through his official Twitter account @aaron-kiely. In August last year 2011 he was forced to release a grovelling apology after comments he made defending London rioters and describing the Metropolitan Police 'institutionally racist'. Support: Mr Kiely appeared to oppose the extradition of hate cleric Hamza when he posted this tweet . Mrs Carr continued: 'He manages to find time to condemn the decision to deport Abu Hamza and accuse the police of "brutal tactics", but not stand up for the people of Ockendon - he’s an utter disgrace. 'When Cllr Kiely was elected he promised that he would be there for local people, but this promise has been cynically broken. 'This makes me angry; when you make someone a promise, it should be kept.' Mr Kiely was voted in as one of three councillors for the South Ockendon ward in May last year 2011. Since the beginning of this year 2012 he has failed to attend meetings in January, February, March, June, July and September. Bried encounter: Mr Kiely has only attended one meeting this year as councillor for South Ockendon at Thurrock Council . Meetings in April were suspended due to the local elections while there was not a full council meeting in August due to the summer break. He has earned almost £3,000 since he last turned up at full council in May. Embarrassingly, if Mr Kiely had been on Thurrock council’s youth cabinet - whose members are unpaid - he would have already been given the boot as members are not allowed to miss more than three consecutive meetings without good reason. The Labour leader of the Thurrock Council, John Kent, has now launched an investigation, warning that the young representative faces suspension. Last night he said: 'We have been supportive of Aaron, but he has fallen short of the standards that we believe should be met. 'Consequently the Labour group now has no option but to take appropriate action against Cllr Kiely and will be investigating issues, including some of the views that he has chosen to put in the public domain. 'We will look at the appropriateness of those comments and of his contribution to the Labour group, his ward residents and the council. 'It is likely that we will seek his suspension from the Labour group while that investigation is undertaken by the appropriate people. What the outcome will be beyond that would be unfair to speculate on at this time.' Despite repeated attempts to contact him for a response, Mr Kiely was unavailable for comment today.
meeting this year. Aaron Kiely, 20, has so far earned £6,667 this year from Thurrock Council, extradition of hate cleric Abu Hamza to the the U.S last week and has appeared in court encounter: Mr Kiely has only attended one meeting