County council expenses go live

Retired public representative, Madeleine Taylor-Quinn netted almost €1,000 supporting her county in Croke Park while sporting the mayoral chain.
The Fine Gael councillor, who stepped away from political life at the last local elections, claimed €611.97 in expenses for attending Clare’s junior All-Ireland camogie final win over Offaly in 2008
And two weeks later the then Mayor of Clare attended the All-Ireland intermediate ladies football final, a game Clare lost to Tipperary, and she claimed €354.19 for her attendance at that game.
Details of the claims, some of which related to 2008, are contained in the list of expenses claimed by councillors during 2009 and which are available online.
In fact, Clare County Council became one of the first local authorities in the country to make the expenses of its councillors and executive available online.
Not unexpectedly, the two big earners were the last two mayors – Madeleine Taylor Quinn (€40,858.05) and current incumbent Tony Mulcahy (€44,104.13). However, one of Clare’s full-time politicians, Bernard Hanrahan, who lost his seat in the elections, walked away with €20,106.47, including a gratuity payment of €4,889.65.
The move by councillors to reveal their expenses details online was unanimously approved by the 32 elected representatives and will allow members of the public to view all allowances and expenses paid to them, including income from committees and boards, Mayoral allowances and travel and office expenses.
The online information, which will be updated on a regular basis on the Clare County Council website www.clarecoco.ie, also includes the council’s executive’s expenses and numerous examples of meetings attended by councillors.
Interestingly, Fine Gael newcomer, Johnny Flynn has been true to his word in that he has honoured his commitment not to claim expenses. Consequently, the Ennis East councillor only claimed €9,259.87, the basic pay for councillors.
Mayor of Clare Councillor Tony Mulcahy said the move is aimed at bringing transparency to the issue of County Councillors’ gross earnings
He explained, “For some time there has been somewhat of a distorted view that details of such expenses and allowances were being shielded from the public.  However, such information has always been available on the public record and I am delighted that Clare County Council and my fellow elected representatives have agreed to make this information more easily accessible. 
“I believe that as the gross income earned by councillors is taxpayers’ money, such details should be open and transparent rather than being accessible only under the Freedom of Information Act”.
Clare County Manager Tom Coughlan added, “In the spirit of co-operation, which exists between the council executive and elected members, the management team is happy to publish details of expenses online.”
In fact, the council executive claimed a total of €30,621.01 with the county manager receiving a total of €6,177.11 last year.
The breakdown of expenses claimed by his director of services were David Timlin (€5,706.10), Nora Kaye (€4,802.53), Bernadette Kinsella (€4,777.66) and Ger Dollard (€4,503.47). Head of Finance and Human Resources, Noeleen Fitzgerald claimed €4,654.14.