This article is from page 14 of the 2006-02-14 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
CLARE’S district court judge, Judge Joseph Mangan, is one of 49 district court judges to jointly scoop €996,299 in expenses last year.
Figures released through the Freedom of Information Act to The Clare People show that district court judges received on average €18,114 in expenses last year.
The payments claimed represented a drop on the €1,160,000 claimed by 46 judges in 2004.
Judge Mangan is likely to be in the upper half, in terms of expenses received, as he has a large area to administer, stretching from south Galway to south-east and west Clare.
The courts in which he presides at include Ennis, Ennistymon, Kildysart, Kilkee, Corofin, Kilrush, Tulla, Gort, Athenry and Killaloe. The payments received come on top on his salary of €124,550.
The breakdown provided by the FOI Unit at the Courts Service show that Judge Mangan and his district court colleagues travelled 324,610 miles, to hearings at the country’s 188 district court venues outside Dublin.
The judges received €351,331 on mileage and €630,198 on subsistence. They spent €14,769 on judges’ attire, including gowns.
The top ten earning district court justices received €400,000 in expenses in 2005.
The detailed breakdown shows that the top five claimants last year received respectively, €54,902, €51,681, €48,680, €42,045 and €40,836.
The top recipients would be those with no designated district, who would be assigned to travel to various court areas around the country, filling in for judges on annual or sick leave.
A statement accompanying the information pointed out that 99 per cent of expenses paid to judges last year arose from travel and subsistence expenses.
“Judges’ travel and subsistence is determined by the number of court sittings and the number of Judges assigned, both of which TWO CARS were overturned in a weekend in which there were four collisions, but no serious injuries to anyone involved. This car went off the Tulla Road, just outside Ennis, at 9.27am on Sunday. Another vehicle overturned at Kilrush Cross at 2.45pm on Sunday. Gardaí were also called to a collision near the West County Hotel at 12.58pm on Sunday and to an accident involving two vehicles at 8.13am on the Limerick Road.