EXPENSES AND other money allocated to county councillors in Louth are to be reviewed in the local authority’s estimates for next year.
It was agreed after the council decided not to support Sinn Féin who wanted to stop paying “the tax free €6,000 bonus” fee to the councillors who chair each of the four strategic policy committees of the council.
The county manager Conn Murray said that to stop the payments to the chairs of the policy committees at this stage of the year would only save about €1,000, but he welcomed the attitude of the councillors on the issue of cutting back on expenses.
The councillors did agree to reduce the number of such committees from five to four, but a proposal from Cllr Edel Corrigan (SF) that the chairpersons “no longer be paid the tax free €6,000 bonus given the current economic crisis” led to a heated debate.
Some councillors objected to cutting back on payments, saying that “TDs and Ministers had to be dragged screaming to accept a 25 per cent cut in expenses (paid) without receipts.”
An alternative proposal from Cllr Frank Maher (FF) that the council “reviews all aspects of payments and allowances to councillors in the context of next year’s budget estimates”, was adopted.