Over €555,000 in gratuity payments allocated for Leitrim’s former councillors

Leitrim County Council is set to pay over €555,000 in gratuity payments to former councillors.

Local representatives are eligible for a gratuity payment upon leaving a council after turning 50 years old, regardless of whether they retire or pursue other employment.

The Irish Independent reported that €9.5 million is set to be distributed in these payments to former council members across Ireland.

In Leitrim, eight former councillors and one sitting councillor will receive gratuity payments.

Fine Gael councillor Enda McGloin who remains an active councillor for Ballinamore, has received €34,000.

This is because in 2014, Cllr McGloin lost his seat after 10 years of serving on Leitrim County Council making him eligible for a severance payment. 

However, he was 45 years old at the time, and couldn’t collect it until age 50. 

Funding announced for upgrades to community centres in Leitrim

Grants of up to €25,000 for each of the 10 selected community centres will support facility upgrades.

In January 2019, when he turned 50, Leitrim County Council informed him that a payment was due and he completed all necessary forms.

The payment was then issued in May 2019, just before he was re-elected. 

Cllr McGloin noted that he was entitled to the payment under the existing arrangement and added if the timeline had extended to June 2019, he wouldn’t have been included in the initial report.

Independent former councillor Gerry Dolan is set to receive the highest payment, amounting to nearly €96,000.

Caillian Ellis and Frank Dolan will be awarded over €90,000 and Seán McDermott will receive over €89,500.

Sinéad Guckian is expected to receive more than €68,000, while Carrick-on-Shannon Chamber President Finola Armstrong Maguire is set to receive over €45,000. 

Thomas Mulligan will be awarded over €22,500, and Gerry Kilrane is set to receive €19,300.

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