Councillors claim €33k in expenses last year

Galway during race week and trips to Westport and west Cork at the height of summer were just some of the conference destinations enjoyed by Westmeath’s county councillors last year.

According to figures obtained by the Westmeath Examiner from the council last week, our local representatives claimed over €33,000 in fees and expenses for 70 conferences in 2013, with an average claim of just under €480 per conference.

Colm Arthur (FG), who lost his seat in May's local elections, topped the expenses table. The Rochfortbridge native, who claimed €4,764.83 in expenses and fees, was also the most prolific conference attendee, making it to 10 over the course of 2013, including seven in the space of as many weeks in January and February.

Mr Arthur defended his attendance record, saying that he only attended conferences that he felt were relevant to the work he was doing.
“There was an amount set out by the council for councillors and out of that you pay the fee for conferences. Last year for me this was €1,500, which brings the total back down. You also have the journey to and from the conference and the overnight stay. When you work it back down it’s not overly lucrative.”

Just below Cllr Arthur on the expenses’ table was another Fine Gael man, Joe Flanagan. Although he retired from public life last month, Mr Flanagan had a busy last full year in local politics, attending eight conferences and claiming €4,284.70 in expenses and fees in the process. 

The third biggest expenses claimant was another Fine Gael member, Cllr Frank McDermott. The longest serving councillor in the country, the Fore native attended eight conferences last year, including four in Galway. In total, Cllr McDermott claimed €3,783.12.

Labour stalwart Mick Dollard claimed €3,625.60 in expenses and fees, putting him fourth on the list. Cllr Dollard’s six conferences included a few days in the plush surrounds of Inchydoney Lodge and Spa in West Cork last September for the annual conference of the Association of the Municipal Authorities of Ireland. His total claim for the event was €770.38 (€595.38 for expenses and €175 for fees) – the biggest last year.
While he says that conferences represent good value for both the public and representatives, Cllr Dollard, who also attended conferences on housing, development plans and financing, said that the events were “educational”.

“I have a view that public representatives are the people who should be drawing up policy and officials should implement it. I take my role very seriously... It’s important that you can bring forward policies. Do you go and listen to what officials say and rubber stamp it? Or have you a will of your own?”

The new cathaoirleach, Cllr Paddy Hill, and Cllr Ken Glynn each attended seven conferences and claimed €3,537.40 and €3,528.33 respectively last year, putting them in fifth and sixth places in the expenses table.

Their party colleague Cllr Paul Daly claimed €2,200.29 for the conferences he attended. The chairman of Kilbeggan Race Committee, Cllr Daly’s attendance at a conference in Galway in early August coincided with the city’s popular annual horse racing festival.

Cllr Daly said that while he attended the races, his primary motivation for travelling to the west was to attend the conference, Tax for the Business Sector, held in Connacht Hotel.
“I wouldn’t go unless I found it worthwhile. Conferences are on the whole time but I wouldn’t go willy nilly. From memory, the conference was on when there was only evening meetings and I went to a race meeting in the evening and the conference during the day. From memory I didn’t go the racing every evening.”

Six out of the 23 Westmeath councillors (Peter Keaney, Avril Whitney, Gabrielle McFadden, Kevin, Moran, Ger Corcoran and Detty Cornally) attended no conferences, while two, John Shaw and Peter Burke, attended one conference but did not claim expenses, according to the council’s records. Two other representatives Cllr Johnny Penrose and the now retired Mark Cooney also attended only one conference over the year.

See below for the expenses claimed by each councillor last year.