€1 million pay out to councillors in allowance sand expenses
€15K ALLOWANCE SEES SHEEHAN TOP LIST WHILE GOREY COUNCILLOR HAS HIGHEST EXPENSES, WRITES DAVID LOOBY
THE county’s elected public representatives were paid €1m in expenses and payouts in 2019, figures released by the local authority reveal.
The figures show that councillors received a slight increase in representative payments compared to previous years, amounting to €17,001 (up from €16,867), for those who served throughout the year.
The total employee bill for the 34 councillors came to €578,047.
A municipal district allowance of €33,868 was paid, while the chairs of municipal councils (George Lawlor, Ger Carthy, John Hegarty, John Fleming, Kathleen Codd Nolan, Malcolm Byrne, Willie Kavanagh and Tony Dempsey), were paid €3,427,
Wexford Mayor Cllr Lawlor getting the highest payment (€6,163).
The payments are subject to PAYE, PRSI and other statutory deductions.
The biggest earner last year was current council chairman Cllr Michael Sheehan (FF) from New Ross, who earned €46,052, including a chairperson’s allowance of €15,523. The next highest earner being his New Ross municipal district colleague John Fleming on €40,856. The highest earning Fine Gael councillor was Cllr Jim Moore who earned €32,891.
Labour Cllr George Lawlor received €37,626, while General Election candidate Malcolm Byrne earned €32,287.
Vice chair payments of €3,104 and €2,644 were made to Cllr Lisa McDonald and former councillor Willie Fitzharris respectively.
Chairs of special policy committees were paid €3,000 each for the honour: namely: councillors
Pip Breen, Michael Sheehan, Mary Farrell, Malcolm Byrne, Larry O’Brien, John Hegarty, John Fleming, Joe Sullivan and Jim Moore.
Twinning committee chair payments of €2,095 and €2,063 were made to councillors Anthony Connick and John Fleming.
€20,635 was paid for conference abroad fees, Willie Fitzharris (FG) was the biggest traveller (€4,287), followed by Tony Dempsey (€3,372) (FF) and former council chairman Cllr Keith Doyle (FF), (€3,102),
Cllr George Lawlor burned the most diesel on conferences in Ireland (€1,698). €1,005 was paid for Cllr Lawlor to attend conferences, with €4,202 in expenses to boot.
Training fees came to €11,248, but expenses rang in at a whopping €41,837. €1,104 was spent on Joe Sullivan’s conference fees, followed by €4,835 in expenses. Outgoing Fine Gael Cllr Larry O’Brien had a conference bill of €810, with €3,611 paid for his expenses, while his party colleague Oliver Walsh’s bill was €970, with €4,226 spent on conferences.
Cllr Keith Doyle who was not elected in May’s local elections agreed to contribute the value of his municipal district chairperson’s annual allowance of €6,000 from his 2017/2018 tenure to the Vinegar Hill Development project.
The total amount paid out to 46 councillors, 12 of who exited the political fray in the May elections, either by personal choice or by the people’s choice, was €1,008,327.
Members expenses amounted to €220,542. Sinn Fein Fionntáin Ó’Suilleabháin had the highest expenses (€8,839), followed by Fianna Fáil Cllr Joe Sullivan (€8,800), Other long distance travellers from the north of the county were Fine Gael’s Anthony Donohoe (€8,520) and Malcolm Byrne were (€7,962). New Ross Cllr Anthony Connick’s expenses amounted to €7,365, the highest from the other districts,
Members’ expenses relate to reimbursement of travel and other costs by councillors.
Around €11,000 was spent on phone bills for councillors between 2017 and 2019, Martin Murphy’s 2018 bill of €817 being the highest by far.