Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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194. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the amount provided to councillors for conference expenses by local authority in each of the years 2012 to 2015, inclusive, in tabular form. [18207/16]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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195. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the cost to the State and a breakdown by local authority of the representational payment made to councillors in each of the years 2012 to 2015, inclusive, in tabular form. [18208/16]

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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196. To ask the Minister for Environment, Community and Local Government the cost to the State and a breakdown by local authority of the annual allowance made to councillors in each of the years 2012 to 2015, in tabular form. [18209/16]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 194 to 196, inclusive, together.

The amounts payable by local authorities to elected members in support of their role as public representatives in respect of conference expenses, representational payments and annual allowances are as set out in the Local Government (Expenses of Local Authority Members) Regulations 2014, the Local Government (Representational Payment for Members) Regulations 2001 and other associated regulations/circulars issued by my Department.

Under the 2014 Regulations, since 1 June 2014 the maximum amount payable by a local authority in annual conference expenses is €700 multiplied by the number of members of the authority.

The amount of the representational payment payable to members of county councils, city councils and city and county councils has been set at €16,565 per annum since 1 July 2013.

Elected members also receive an annual allowance designed to defray in a structured way reasonable expenses incurred by them in attending meetings associated with their council business. This is calculated using a formula based on the distance from their home to the council offices, standard travel and subsistence rates and a notional number of meetings which a local authority would be expected to hold in a year based on 4 meeting bands. It is supplemented by a fixed amount which varies depending upon which of the 4 meetings bands applies to the local authority concerned. The fixed annual rates are €2,286, €2,413, €2,540 and €2,667. Once 80% or upwards of the relevant number of meetings are attended the member qualifies for the full allowance.

The costs incurred by individual local authorities in making these and other payments to their elected members are a matter for the authorities themselves and are not available in my Department.