€180,000 in payments to former councillors

SEVEN city councillors who were unseated in May’s local election, or decided not to contest it, have shared in €180,000 gratuity payments to mark their service.

Two councillors who retired from politics, and five elected members who lost their seats, will be paid gratuities corresponding to the number of years spent in office.

Former mayor Pádraig Conneely (FG) and Billy Cameron (Lab) – who both bowed out of politics earlier this year – will each receive €51,021 in payments under the so-called ‘scrappage scheme’.

Both men served three terms on the local authority, having been first elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2009 and 2014.

Two Fine Gael councillors and three from Sinn Féin – who all unsuccessfully contested the most recent local election – are also in line for payments.

Former mayor Pearce Flannery and his Fine Gael colleague who also lost his seat, John Walsh, are in line for €17,060 in gratuity payments.

Sinn Féin’s Cathal Ó Conchúir and Maireád Farrell, who both lost their seats, having made the breakthrough in 2014, are in line for €17,060 each.

The payment to Ms Farrell, who has indicated she will contest the next general election in Galway West, is a “preserved benefit” and is not payable until 2040 – the payment cannot be processed until former councillors reach the age of 50.

Their party colleague, Mark Lohan, was co-opted to the City Council in October 2016, and so his gratuity is just over €9,000 for a little over two-and-a-half years’ service.

Anna Marley, who won the seat that Mr Lohan was co-opted to, is entitled to €7,470.15 for her period in office, but it is deferred until 2034.

Meanwhile, Independent Catherine Connolly, who was elected a TD in 2016, received a gratuity that year of more than €53,000 upon her election to Dáil Éireann for her 16 years’ service on the local authority.

The figures have been confirmed by Galway City Council.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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