€394k paid to councillors for first three months of this year
THE report card is out for South Dublin County councillors, as the recently published expenses and attendance register has revealed the highest paid councillors.
In total, South Dublin County Council paid €394,502.93 to councillors for the first three months of this year.
Covering the first quarter of this year, the register shows that Cllr Alan Edge (Ind) earned the highest amount, totalling €16,245.01, however this was during his tenure as Mayor.
Due to this, he received the Mayor’s Allowance of €7,474.35 for the first three months of this year, alongside his council pay, and he had full attendance at council meetings during this.
The second-highest earner was Cllr David McManus (FG) who earned €16,024.58, with €2,198.81 of that being expenses for training and €970.22 in expenses for conferences.
Cllr McManus was the only councillor on South Dublin County Council who claimed expenses for training and conferences in the first three months of this year.
“[The expenses] are provided for training by LAMA and AILG that all councillors from around the country can attend,” Cllr McManus told The Echo.
“Being a councillor is a demanding role, and the public expect you to have a wide range of knowledge across the services we provide.
“I think the public expect you to know every aspect of housing policy and planning policy.”
He added: “This is across the public service – employers provide training on an ongoing basis so employees can keep their skill set up-to-date.
“I think there’s value to it, and the expenses incurred for travelling to an event are claimed using the same system as people working in the public service.”
Cllr McManus also noted that his high attendance at meetings – he was present for nine out of ten meetings – also contributed to his high rate of pay as there is a payment per meeting.
The lowest earner was Cllr Teresa Costello (FF) who had full attendance at council meetings during the first three months of the year, and received €7,953.48.
Despite attending all ten council meetings required, Cllr Costello’s allowance for attendance at meetings was €797.04 which she said she believes may be “a clerical error”.
The Echo contacted South Dublin County Council for comment, and a spokesperson said: “This relates to Cllr Costello’s estimate of LRA (Local Representational Allowance) expenditure.
“In the case of 2023, this was over-estimated and with the agreement of Cllr Costello the amount was recouped in full by means of deduction from her Q1 2024 payment.
“Cllr Costello isn’t on any Strategic Policy Committees so did not receive an allowance for this, and also did not claim for conferences, training or the Local Representational Allowance.
“I have never claimed for training to date,” Cllr Costello told The Echo.
“It’s just not my thing.
“But just because I don’t do it, it doesn’t mean that it’s not of benefit to the people who do it, it’s just something that I’ve never done.”
Cllr Mick Duff (Ind), who earned €10,501.55 in the first quarter of this year, was the only councillor who claimed the newly-instituted Security Allowance.
The Security Allowance was brought in by the Government last September and permits councillors to claim 50 per cent of their costs for personal security measures.
Cllr Duff claimed €1,730.89 under the Security Allowance and told The Echo he did so after receiving personal safety advice from a local Garda to install CCTV and update his home alarm system.
“I brought a local Garda down to the house, and he did a survey of the house and made some recommendations for what we needed,” Cllr Duff explained.
“The allowance covered 50 per cent of the cost of the upgrade of the alarm and CCTV cameras were installed.
“It’s a one-off payment, and at the time, the way things were going and in an election year, I decided to do it and I’m happy I did it.”
In terms of attendance at council meetings, Cllr Kenneth Egan (FG), who has since left the council and did not contest the local election, had the lowest attendance as he attended four out of ten meetings.
Mr Egan was contacted for comment, but a response was not received at the time of print.