Almost every elected member of Ceredigion County Council should question why they have bothered to stand for public office. And they should be looking at themselves in the mirror asking what their personal concept of public service means.

First and foremost, taking the longest and hardest look in that mirror should be council leader Bryan Davies. Political leadership isn’t about making chums or keeping silent when there are tough choices to be made.

But this exercise in soul searching should also extend to the very highest levels of Ceredigion County Council too, from CEO Eifion Evans to his inner sanctum of overpaid and underachieving department heads.

When it comes to looking after the sick and infirm people of Ceredigion, you have failed us. You have failed the sick and those with dementia, those in need of specialist care, those with parents and elderly relatives.

There is not a single Elderly Mentally Infirm (EMI) bed available in the county you purport to oversee.

Instead, the sick and elderly — who no doubt paid their taxes here and worked hard while able to — are shipped off to other counties. Relatives have to travel long distances or forego trips to see those in EMI facilities in Carmarthenshire or elsewhere.

For that, you should hang your heads in shame.

You might talk a big talk about caring, making Ceredigion better, building a better future, being dynamic and inclusive. But for the people of this county, those are hollow words.

Talk is cheap. Action is not.

If you cared, then Bodlondeb care home in Aberystwyth would be open today.

If you cared, the tender process that sees the building disposed off, would not be underway.

Five years ago, you shut the doors of the care facility. Since then, you’ve wasted countless sums of taxpayers money on high wages, empty buildings and consultants reports. Your vanity knows no bounds.

And over that time, the good people of this country have struggled with out-of-county care for those who need it most.

So, yes, take a long hard look at what you’re doing. Or not doing, as is the case.

Most of you are a disgrace.