Councillors in Monaghan received over €520,000 in payments and expenses last year.
Elected representatives receive a base salary of just over €17,000 per year, and are eligible to claim back costs for phone bills, travel and subsistence.
Twenty councillors sat on the local authority last year, with Padraig McNally and Jackie Crowe sitting until the local elections, and Aoife McCooey and Mary Kerr-Conlon joining from then on.
In total, €522,730.26 was shared by all of them in 2019.
€307,000 was made up of the base salary, and just under €215,000 being expenses and allowances.
Fine Gael’s David Maxwell was the highest paid; he received €25,662 on top of his salary. Almost €17,000 of his additional payments came from the Cathaoirleach’s allowance (€13,772.20) and foreign travel to twinned towns (€2971.93).
Fianna Fail’s Seamus Coyle was next on the list. €22,843.82 was paid to him on top of his €17,000 salary. Again the majority came from his allowances for being the Cathaoirleach and foreign travel.
Of the councillors who elected the full twelve months, Independent Hugh McElvaney was paid the least. He was paid a total of €22,364 last year - €5,200 of which was expenses.
