COUNCILLORS GET TRAVEL EXPENSES FOR ONLINE MEETINGS
ELECTED representatives on Wexford County Council continue to receive a travel allowance for attending county and district council meetings, despite the fact these meetings have been taking place online via Microsoft Teams for the past couple of months.
Despite the Covid pandemic massively curbing members’ travel to meetings and events, they will still have been able to draw down their full monthly expenses of between €400 and €650, which includes a provision for travel.
Head of Communications and County Secretary David Minogue explained that the members’ annual expenses allowance was broken down into three elements - travel, subsistence and an unvouched fixed rate allowance in respect of miscellaneous expenses.
The first two, he said, ‘are calculated by reference to the proximity of the councillor’s home to Council Headquarters, while the fixed rate allowance is set by legislation. He noted that ‘the allowance is regarded as no more than reimbursing members for overall costs incurred wholly, exclusively and necessarily in the performance of duties for the office held’.
Mr Minogue noted that members’ monthly allowance is calculated at the beginning of the council’s five year term as an annual sum per elected member. The annual sum is then divided into 12 equal monthly instalments. ‘It is not a vouched allowance,’ he said. ‘Therefore it is not necessary that the elected member makes an expense claim each month in order for the allowance to be paid.’
Payment of travel allowance is, however, based on the number of meetings attended by each elected member, the full amount only payable where the member attends at least 80% of meetings in the year.
Explaining the situation with virtual meetings, Mr Minogue added: ‘Recent legislative amendments, introduced as a direct result of Covid-19, have enabled elected members to attend a Council meeting remotely. Such remote attendance also satisfies the attendance requirement for the purposes of calculating payment of the Annual Expenses Allowance. Thus, any elected member who remotely attends meetings of the Council will continue to receive their normal monthly Expenses Allowance.’
Gorey councillor Diarmuid Devereux was quick to get in touch to stress that he had opted to forego his expenses early on in the pandemic and other members could have done the same.
‘Around the time of the second lockdown it became obvious that we wouldn’t be attending meetings for months,’ he said. ‘At that stage I opted to cancel my expenses. There may well be others who have waived their expenses too, but it’s not a one size fits all situation. Some councillors are dependent on that income. I’ve opted to waive my expenses in any case and I’ll continue to do so until we can return to having normal meetings.’
Speaking to the Irish Independent on the matter of councillor’s expenses last week, Minister for Housing and Local Government Darragh O’Brien said ‘It’s actually a matter for the local councils themselves. I’m aware that the allowances that are paid are done on a monthly basis. They’re composite. And this is done on a short period of time. It’s up to each council to look at how they remunerate their councillors,’ he continued. ‘It’s quite a meagre remuneration if I might say. It’s about €17,000 a year. It’s then up to each council to ensure that they work within the scheme that is set forth by the department.’
There hasn’t been a physical sitting of Wexford County Council since early October, prior to which meetings took place in The Riverside Park Hotel to facilitate social distancing. District and committee meetings have also been taking place virtually in recent months, some having moved online as early as May.