LAST week, the Government approved a series of payment of salary top-ups for members of the Oireachtas, both Dáil and Seanad, and for elected members of County Councils, and in Westmeath, the pay hike will benefit the four TDs and two local Senators, as well as the 20 members of Westmeath County Council, from the two Municipal Authority areas, Mullingar and Athlone.
The increases, which amount to pay rises, are expected to be operative from April, when Dáil members will receive an additional €2,700 in line with public service top-ups, and are eligible for a further similar top-up in 2018. Seanad members will receive an additional sum also, in line with public service top-ups.
At present, TDs get a basic salary of €82,000 per annum, before expenses, and they will receive an extra €2,700 with extra expenses., in line with public service increases.
Local County Councillors will receive a new €1,000 a year extra annual payment and they will also be eligible for significant increases in their expenses, and from May, they could receive up to €3,500 in additional allowances from May next.
In June 2016, Fine Gael was seeking a €5,000 increase in pay for Councillors and asked Mr. Coveney to increase the annual fixed allowance. In October last the Minister intended to announce the rise in payments to Councillors, but did not go ahead with it.
The Minister for Housing, Simon Coveney, confirmed last week that all local authority members will receive an increase in their fixed allowances used to cover expenses incurred when on duty, and this will amount to about €2,500.
Currently, members can avail of between €2,286 and €2,667 per annum in a fixed allowance, but this will now be increased to a maximum of €5000. At present, it is unvouched, but Minister Coveney said the new allowance would be a vouched system, to bring it in line with Oireachtas members.
Separately, a new allowance of €1,000 will be given to elected members of authorities which have municipal districts, created when town councils were abolished.
Under the existing system, Councillors (other than those in Dublin, Cork and Galway City Council authorities) receive the fixed allowance to cover reasonable subsistence and non-travel expenses. Under the new system, councillors can have vouched expenses up to €5,000 with the new “municipal district allowance” of €1,000 a year, so they will most likely have an extra €3,500 a year. Councils have been told the new regime is to bring local authority rules into line with those in the Oireachas, with the €1,000 for additional work carried out by councillors in recent years. The AILG (Association of Irish Local Government) representing councillors said the workload had greatly increased and Councillors pay PRSI also. In a survey done, Councillors said they averaged over 33 hours a week fulfilling their roles as public representatives. They were doing this for €15,565, which amounted to €9.40 an hour, less than the minimum wage.
At present County Councillors receive the basic payment of €16,565 per annum, before deductions, and not including expenses. (This amounts to about €320 a week).
In Westmeath, there’s a total of four TDs, three Senators and 20 County Councillors who stand to benefit from the scheme announced by Minister Coveney.
The four Westmeath-Longford Constituency TDs are Robert Troy (Fianna Fáil), Kevin “Boxer” Moran ( Indept.), Peter Burke (Fine Gael) and Willie Penrose (Labour).
The three Seanad members are Aidan Davitt, Paul Daly (Fianna Fáil) and Gabrielle McFadden (Fine Gael).
COUNTY COUNCIL
The thirteen Council members in the Mullingar Municipal District are as follows: Mullingar Coole area: Frank McDermott, Emily Wallace (both F. Gael); Paddy Hill, John Shaw, Bill Collentine (Fianna Fáil), Michael Dollard (Lab.), Una D’Arcy (S. Féin). Mullingar-Kilbeggan: Ken Glynn, Avril Whitney and Liam McDaniel (Fianna Fáil), Johnny Penrose (Lab.), Andrew Duncan (Fine Gael) and Sorca Clarke (S. Féin).
In Athlone Municipal District, there are seven Councillors, Aengus O’Rourke and Frankie Keena (F. Fáil); Tom Farrell and John Dolan (Fine Gael); Paul Hogan (S. Féin), Michael O’Brien and Ailish McManus ( Independents).
The breakdown of the 20 member Council is: Fianna Fáil (8), Fine Gael (5), Sinn Féin (3), Labour (2) and Independents (2).
Monthly Municipal District meetings take place in Mullingar and Athlone, and a monthly meeting of all 20 Council members also takes place, usually in Mullingar, with a range of SPD and other sub-group meetings also taking place, most in Mullingar but some in Athlone.
