Donegal County Cllr Terence Slowey to be investigated over expenses

The States standards watchdog is to investigate a Donegal County Councillor who claimed expenses for attending two different local government conferences which took place on the same weekend.
A hearing into the conduct of Councillor Terence Slowey, who is the Fine Gael whip on the Council, has been set for later this month, the Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO) annouced last night.
Cllr Slowey is facing questions after claiming expenses for travelling from Ardara to Killarney, a 878km trip, and then Ardara to Clonakilty, a 964km trip. Even though the two meetings were held on the same weekend.
Mr Sloweys attendance was recorded at the Third Sector Forum Finance conference in KIllarney from October 16th to 18th as a representative for Donegal County Council.
He subsequently recieved €1,270 in expenses from the Council for attending the conference.
Mr Slowey was also recorded as having attended the Association of Irish Regions conference in Clonakilty on October 17 as a representative of the Border Regional Authority.
The authority subsequently paid him expenses of €1,133 for that conference.
However, Cllr Slowey later repaid over €1,100 — the cost of attending the Clonakilty event — when a query was raised over the expenses claim.
Speaking to Highland Radio news in January last year, Cllr Slowey said that he had generally realised he had made a mistake and tried to rectify it.
However, SIPO began examining the issue in June last year after official complaints were made by former Donegal county manager Michael McLoone and former county mayor Brendan Byrne, a Fianna Fail councillor.
A statement issued last night said SIPO will hold a public hearing on March 14.

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