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Cavan Council "reviewing potential issue" around Councillor's expenses

Jul 14, 2021 14:40 By News Northern Sound
Cavan Council "reviewing potential issue" around Councillor's expenses
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A number of Councillors from across the country were featured.

Cavan County Council says it's "reviewing a potential issue raised" by an investigation into Councillors' expenses.

It comes as a Longford Councillor has urged local representatives that appeared in the major investigation, to ask themselves some difficult questions over their political futures.

Councillor Seamus Butler has been responding to claims made by a RTE Investigates report on discrepancies in expenses paid by public bodies to local councillors.

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The investigation centred on overlapping expense claims submitted by a number of Councillors across the country, including local representatives Seamus Coyle, Clifford Kelly and Enda McGloin.

Three instances of overlapping claims were highlighted for Fianna Fáil Councillor in Monaghan Seamus Coyle, involving the County Council, CMETB and the North and Western Regional Assembly.

Among the claims highlighted was a training seminar in Sligo in April 2016 for which he was paid €265 in expenses.

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However, he also an NWRA assembly meeting in Ballaghdereen on the same day, for which he received €298 in travel and subsistence payments.

Councillor Coyle has not responded to a request for comment from Northern Sound.

Two overlaps were highlighted involving Fianna Fáil Councillor in Cavan Clifford Kelly. These involved conferences in Tipperary and Dungarvan in 2017 and 2018 but on both occasions he also attended interview panels in Dundalk IT.

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In a statement to this station he said he had been "in contact with Cavan County Council and other the other named bodies and have asked them to review the matter".

Cavan County Council says it is "reviewing a potential issue raised" by the investigation.

In a statement to Shannonside Northern Sound, it says "if any discrepancies arise" it will "address them as appropriate".

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CMETB has said Councillor Seamus Coyle has not made contact with it in relation to the claims made in the programme.

Monaghan County Council and Dundalk IT have also been contacted for comment.

Longford's Seamus Butler is urging all public representatives featured in the report to make immediate restitution to the named bodies.

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Speaking to the Joe Finnegan Show Today, Councillor Butler says those featured in the investigation need to ask themselves some serious questions about their future ahead of the next local election:

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