Local councillors’ expenses for 2021 published

Local councillors’ expenses for 2021 have been released by Cork County Council, and reveal that between allowances, payments and expenses that the six local councillors in the Fermoy Municipal District cost the taxpayer €217,757.42 to keep on the road, so to speak.

With an annual cost of between c. €31,000 and €43,000, the figures for the six councillors are broadly on a par with those of other elected representatives from County Cork. By surname alphabetically, below is a summary of the activities of the elected councillors of the Fermoy MD. Full details are available on Cork County Council’s website.

Cllr Kay Dawson attended 70 meetings in total in 2021, and the total claimed last year was €43,631.98. This included her monthly allowance as chair of the Fermoy MD until August, which transferred to Cllr Deirdre O’Brien when she took over the role. Other expenses incurred by Cllr Dawson are those for her place on the board of the Cork Education and Training Board.

Fermoy-based Cllr Noel McCarthy attended 66 meetings in the year, and the only expenses incurred aside from the his monthly allowance was a training expenditure in November of €576.36 for attendance at a Mental Health Training Seminar in Sligo in November. The total claimed by Cllr McCarthy for 2021 was €32,770.48.

Cllr Deirdre O’Brien attended 79 meetings in total, and claimed €38,439.86 for the year. Events attended that are listed on the document include a Mental Health Training Seminar held in Sligo and a Housing for All conference in The Four Seasons Hotel, Carlingford, Co. Louth. As chair of the Muncipal District since September 2021, Cllr O’Brien receives a monthly allowance of €461.52. As a member of the Southern Regional Assembly, she claimed monthly expenses of €146.19 each for eight meetings during 2021.

Glanworth councillor Frank O’Flynn’s position as chairman of the Economic Development and Enterprise Strategic Policy Committee earned him an allowance of €461.54 most months, and he also claimed for phone expenses incurred in 2020, amounting to €217.84. He attended 73 meetings in the year and his total for the year amounted to €38,370.64.

Cllr William O’Leary was the only other councillor to claim phone expenses for 2020, which amounted to €600. He attended 68 meetings in the year, and attended the same Sligo-based Mental Health Training Seminar as that attended by Cllrs O’Brien, Dawson and Noel McCarthy in November 2021. Cllr O’Leary claimed a total of €31,967.06 for last year.

Cllr Frank Roche attended 72 meetings in total in 2021, and attended no training sessions or conferences during the year for which to claim expenses. His total for the year amounted to €32,577.40.

2020 FIGURES IN FULL

In 2020, Cllr Frank O’Flynn claimed €43,217.96 in full for the year, while Cllr Kay Dawson claimed €37,233.75 in total. Cllr Deirdre O’Brien claimed €33,790.07; Cllr Frank Roche recouped €31,947.88 in expenses; Cllr Noel McCarthy claimed €30,873.58, while Cllr William O’Leary €30,537.09.

Last May, the government voted to increase the basic salary paid to local representatives from €18,706 to €25,788. Since last December, all elected representatives are capped at a Local Representation Allowance (LRA) of €1,560 for the year, which must be receipted. This replaces the Annual Expenses Allowance.

The €1,560 is claimed in advance of the year, and it is to be vouched for (receipts and invoices kept as proof of expenditure). This LRA is dependent on elected members attending at least 50% of ‘relevant’ local authority meetings.

The LRA is separate to travel and subsistence claims, and guidelines note that elected members are required to use public transport where practicable.