Clare County Council spent more than 5.4 million euro on consultancy fees last year.
It’s a five percent increase on the amount of money spent by the local authority on getting expert advice in a number of areas from 2019.
Following a question from Lissycasey-based Fianna Fail councillor PJ Kelly, the council revealed its spend on consultant’s at this week’s monthly meeting.
The main bulk of the spend last year – over €1.2 million, or 22 percent of the total figure – was on Housing Construction & Remediation.
€1.1 million was spent on advice for projects in the Ennis municipal district – around half of this was spent on consultancy around storm damage and flood relief works.
€842,000 was spent on fees in the Shannon electoral area, compared to €611,000 in the Kilrush area and €587,000 in the Ennistymon region.
The lowest spend was in the Killaloe municipal district, where €493,000 was spent – the majority of which went on consultancy surrounding the Shannon Bridge crossing.
€613,000 was spent on consultancy fees for what the Council refers to as ‘county wide projects’ in 2020 – including €91,000 on tourism development and promotion advice.