More than €240,000 paid in expenses to Wicklow councillors in 2025
The Wicklow PeopleNew figures show councillors in Wicklow were reimbursed a combined total of €241,331.33 in expenses last year.
Expenses are paid out under a range of categories and are generally made available to cover the costs incurred by councillors as they carry out their representational duties. Funds are provided to pay for broadband and phone bills, insurance, training, attendance at conferences and mileage.
The travel and subsistence elements are calculated by reference to the distance from each councillor’s home to council headquarters and is calculated on an annual basis and paid in monthly instalments.
To receive the full Annual Expense Allowance, councillors must meet a statutory 80pc attendance quota for all scheduled meetings. Monthly transcript archives confirm attendance for key votes, such the council’s budget meeting.
Specific percentages for 2025 will be published in the local authority’s Annual Report but they won’t be finalised until its publication in July. Councillors including John Snell and Graham Richmond are historically noted for high attendance rates. Attendance also extends to committees including the Strategic Policy Committees (SPCs), which track member participation quarterly.
Reimbursements often reflect the geographic size of the five municipal districts and the distance councillors must travel to headquarters in Wicklow Town.
While most councillors received standard monthly payments in the region of €400–€700, several members recorded significantly higher totals due to large single month payments, likely reflecting annual adjustments, role based entitlements, or accumulated travel and subsistence claims.
Data published by the local authority up to the end of December 2025 show councillors in Wicklow were reimbursed €229,485.27 last year, with Fine Gael councillor in Baltinglass, Peter Stapleton, receiving the highest amount with €11,849.68.
His district colleague in Baltinglass, Cllr Jason Mulhall was the second highest, with his expenses running to €10,211.39, followed by independent councillor Stephen Stokes in Greystones, who claimed €10,155.72.
Among the other high earners were Green Party councillor Erika Doyle, who received €9,729.60, and Labour’s Paul O’Brien who took home €9,263.51.
Cllr O’Brien, who was Cathaoirleach of the council until June, was also reimbursed €2,094.85 for a trip abroad between March 13 and 19. As council chair, he represented Wicklow during the St Patrick’s Day festivities in New York.
Fine Gael councillor Melanie Corrigan, who replaced Cllr O’Brien as chair of the council in June, claimed €8,097.40.
Cllr O’Brien separately received €1,107.13 for travel expenses to Wurzburg in Germany as part of a county delegation to celebrate a partnership agreement between the city of Würzburg and Bray that has been in place for more than 25 years.
Cllr Stokes and Cllr Patsy Glennon were also part of the delegation between May 8 and 11 and received €1,186.02 and €872.27 respectively in travel expenses.
Councillors Peir Leonard and Gerry O’Neill were among the other highest independent members compensated with sums of €7,834.04 and €7,378.68. respectively, followed by Cllr Tom Fortune with €6,286.74.
At the lower end of the list are councillors John Snell, Shane Langrell and Graham Richmond ,who claimed €4,457.74, €4,629.94 and €4,981.24 respectively.
Cllr Aoife Flynn Kennedy, who unexpectedly resigned from local politics in March, was paid €2,054.03 up to the end of June, with a final payment of €691.29 transferred in May.
Her former district colleague, Sinn Féin’s Dermot Daisy O’Brien, also resigned from his council seat in January 2026. Up to the end of 2025 he vouched for expenses totalling €9,176.14.
Meanwhile €11,846.06 was paid to allow elected members to attend a variety of workshops, seminars and conferences across the country.
The highest individual bill came to €2,715.26 to allow Cllr Paul O’Brien to attend engagements with the Association of Irish Local Government (AILG).
Cllr Glennon received the second highest subsidy of €2,451.58 to attend seminars hosted by the AILG.
Councillors Avril Cronin, Graham Richmond, Ned Whelan and Warren O’Toole were also reimbursed for their attendance at events hosted by the AILG in various locations with a combined total cost of €5,418.92.
Cllr Shane Langrell also received €718.81 to attend the Local Authority Members Association’s spring conference in Kilkenny.
Councillors with the highest overall payments were those with elevated allowance totals, rather than those who attended the most conferences. For example, councillors Stapleton, Mulhall, Stokes, and Daisy O’Brien each exceeded €9,000–€11,800 in allowances alone, despite them claiming no conference expenses.
By comparison, the highest conference claimant, Cllr Pat Kennedy, recorded €2,715.26 in expenses — significantly lower than the top allowance recipients.
When you view allowances and conference expenses together, a clear pattern emerges; statutory allowances account for most of councillors’ remuneration, with conference spending representing a relatively small proportion of overall costs.
For some financial context, the local authority’s adopted budget in 2025 allocated approximately €163,000 for standard member expenses and €300,586 for annual allowances. These figures are separate from the core €28,145 annual salary received by each elected member.
Wicklow councillor payments in 2025 are broadly in line with previous years, but still far below the total remuneration seen in 2023.
In 2023, elected member payments reached €979,462.84, making it one of the highest recent years for total expenditure. This figure reflects a full year of allowances and travel subsistence. Conference attendance in 2023 was also higher than in later years, with more councillors choosing to participate in AILG training modules.