The 30 elected members of Mayo County Council were paid a total of €888,703 between them last year, it was revealed by the local authority this week.
The two councillors who served as Cathaoirleach during the year received the biggest payments, with Fianna Fáil councillor Brendan Mulroy - who held the position for the first half of the year - receiving €42,326, and Independent councillor Richard Finn - who took up the position mid-year and will serve until the middle of this year - receiving €42,614.
Both councillors also received a Cathaoirleach's allowance on top of the nominal payments, with the current Cathaoirleach, Cllr Finn, receiving a payment of €15,000 under this allowance and Cllr Mulroy receiving €14,876.71.
In total, €199,947 was paid in annual allowances to the 30 elected councillors - different councillors receive different payments depending on the distance they have to travel to meetings of the local authority.
Other extra payments are made to councillors who chair Strategic Policy Committees, with the seven SPC chairs sharing in a payments totalling €35,779.56 last year.
The chairs of the four municipal districts were also paid extra allowances for holding such positions, as was the Leas Cathaoirleach of the council, with these payments totalling €31,380.83.
In regard to conference attendance payments, a total of €32,062 was payed out to 20 councillors, while ten councillors claimed €1,367 between them in mobile phone allowances. On foreign travel, a total of €3,886.52 was paid by the council.
