THREAD: I spent months reviewing expense records from every local authority in the country, cross-checking them with records from other public bodies that pay councillors expenses. Here's what I found: #rteinvestigates rte.ie/news/investiga…
Firstly, hundreds of councillors across the country contravened a provision in the Local Government Act by not declaring the expenses they received from external bodies they were members of
But we also found more serious breaches: many councillors have been receiving double payments, by wrongly claiming expenses from their own local authority and from an external organisation for the same official absence
In one particularly striking instance, two councillors claimed expenses for an event in Co Meath, where the headline session was about councillor remuneration, but also claimed expenses for an event happening at the same time in Dublin
But that was just one event for which councillors submitted overlapping claims. For instance, two councillors claimed expenses for a conference in Monaghan, but records show they were at a seminar in the Netherlands
Lots of the councillors we spoke to admitted to errors in filing their expenses. The Association of Irish Local Government, a representative organisation for councillors, acknowledges there are issues with the fact there are multiple organisations that pay councillors expenses
Read the full investigation here: rte.ie/news/investiga…
And you can watch a report on this subject from #rteinvestigates on tonight's Prime Time at 9.35pm. #rtept
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