It appears that elected members of local authorities here in Ireland can still receive allowances, even if they don’t attend all council meetings.
According to the Tipperary County Council website, they are obliged to publicly publish a register of payments to all Tipperary Councillors each quarter year. However, when the Tipperary Expenses Register is sought online the viewer is informed that Councillor Expenses are currently undergoing maintenance for 2024 and 2025 and will be back online as soon as possible.
On Friday last, August 22nd 2025, we learn from the Irish Independent newspaper that Tipperary County Council paid over €1.7 million (€1,742,077.33 to be exact) in expenses and allowances in 2024, to our 40 elected councillors across Tipperary.
The single largest category was for elected councillor’s basic salaries, which amounted €1,178,607.91 for the year 2024. The Annual allowance, made up €264,162.49 of the annual total, followed by a Local Representative Allowance (LRA), totalling €105,519.26, latter a vouched allowance for expenses incurred while carrying out the duty of being a local representative.
The highest Tipperary earner for 2024 was Fine Gael’s Declan Burgess, who took home €59,114.09 for that year. His basic salary was set at €29,755.58, then there was the annual allowance of €5,720.16, and his LRA amounting to €2,557.58.
On Monday last, August 18th, the Cork Examiner Newspaper highlighted a story which concerned a Fianna Fáil junior minister. He, Mr Christopher O’Sullivan [Now Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage since January 2025 and a Teachta Dála for the Cork South-West constituency since the 2020 general election], claimed he had broken no rules by accepting €30,000 in payments from Cork County Council. His payment came during a year in which he admits to spending six months travelling in South America, Australia, and New Zealand.
Mr Christopher O’Sullivan TD, who was appointed a Minister of State in January, was, in 2008, serving as a Cork County Councillor, when he went on his travels, same undertaken the year after he was co-opted onto the council to replace his father.
Mr O’Sullivan said all payments he received; including his allowances and expenses, were in full compliance with the law. He stated that any allowances or payments during 2008 were in full compliance with the laws and regulations then in force, including the Local Government Act 2001 and his absence, while travelling, were taken in a continuous period of six consecutive months, same provided for under Section 18(4)(a) of the Local Government Act, 2001.
Section 18(4)(a) of the Irish Local Government Act 2001 states “A person shall be deemed to have resigned from membership of a local authority where the person is absent from attendance at any meeting of the authority for a continuous period of 6 consecutive months (“the relevant period”) from the date (“the relevant date”) of his or her last attendance at a meeting of the authority.”
Section 18(4)(b) states “paragraph (a) does not apply where the absence was (i) due to illness, or (ii) in good faith for another reason, and which, in either case, is accepted by the local authority and approved by resolution under this paragraph, before the end of the relevant period, in which case the period shall stand extended to 12 months from the relevant date.”
According to the Cork Examiner, Cork Co. Council records show Mr O’Sullivan TD had the lowest attendance rate of all councillors in 2008, attending only 26 out of 70 meetings and despite this, he claimed travel expenses of €4,083; monthly allowances of €8,985, and a Representational payment of €17,179. While his attendance stood at just 37%, Mr O’Sullivan TD also claimed more in 2008 than four other fellow councillors who all had higher attendance records.
It appears that the Irish electorate has lost all control of taxpayer funding.
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