Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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717. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the estimated cost to the Exchequer in a full financial year of increasing the representational allowance for local councillors from €16,565 to €25,000. [9532/18]

John Paul Phelan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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The Representational Payment for local authority elected members recognises the work that councillors volunteer to undertake when they stand for election and subsequently serve their community. The amount of the Representational Payment is linked to the basic salary of a Senator under Regulation 6(3) of the Local Government (Representational Payment for Members) Regulations 2001.

With effect from 1 January 2018, the Representational Payment was increased to €16,891 per annum in line with an increase to the basic amount of a Senator's salary from that same date following the implementation of the Public Service Stability Agreement 2018-2020. The Representational Payment will be further increased during the term of the Agreement in proportion to further increases to the basic amount of a Senator's salary.

Increasing the Representational Payment from its current level of €16,891 to €25,000 per annum for all 949 elected members of local authorities would cost approximately €7.7m but could only be provided for by way of new regulations made under section 142 of the Local Government Act 2001, as amended, and would require the consent of the Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform. The cost of any such increase would fall to be met by individual local authorities.