Pat Deering (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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365. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the amount of money set aside for gratuity payments for retiring councillors in 2014; and the criteria for qualification. [32916/13]

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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398. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government his plans to provide for a gratuity for councillors who will not contest local elections in 2014; the conditions he proposes applying to this gratuity; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33451/13]

Phil Hogan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 365 and 398 together.

Section 142 of the Local Government Act 2001 and the Local Authority Members (Gratuity) Regulations 2002 to 2006 provide that, subject to certain conditions, a councillor who ceases to be a member of a local authority is entitled to receive a gratuity at, or after, the age of 50. Where a person ceases to be a member before age 50, whether voluntarily or as a result of failure to be re-elected, the gratuity will be paid when the person reaches age 50 and will be based on the representational payment applicable at that point. The Local Authority Members (Gratuity) (Amendment) Regulations, 2006 allows the gratuity to be paid before age 50 where retirement is due to permanent infirmity or where the member dies in office.

The amount of the gratuity is calculated on the basis of 4/20ths of a Councillor's Representational Payment for each year of service from 4 May 2000, subject to a maximum twenty years' service (i.e. four times the amount of the Representational Payment at the time of retirement).

An additional ex-gratia payment may be made to Councillors serving on or after the date of the making of the 2006 Regulations in respect of service before 4 May 2000. The rates to be applied are dependent on the number of years' service and the category of local authority in which the Councillor served. Circular Letter S.3/2007 of 22 January 2007, issued by my Department, set the rate of payment of the ex-gratia payment at €714.23 for each year of service up to 20 years' service with a County Council or what was at the time a County Borough Corporation, at ½ this rate for service with what was at the time a Borough Corporation or an Urban District Council, and at ¼ this rate for service as a Town Commissioner. For service in excess of 20 years prior to 4 May 2000, the foregoing rates are reduced by 1/3rd for each additional year of service up to 20 years. There is an overall limit of 40 years' service for the gratuity and ex-gratia payment combined, with the service reckoned for the purposes of a gratuity calculated first and the residual number of years being used to calculate any ex-gratia payment.

Having regard to the democratic process, it is not possible for local authorities to forecast the number of current elected members who will retire or fail to retain their seats following the forthcoming local elections. In this context, local authorities are expected to be prudent in making a provision for potential gratuity payments in their annual budgets as part of the normal budgetary process.