Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation

In or around August 2018, an official from Wexford Council (WCC) made an inquiry to the Local Government Governance Section of the Department of Housing, Planning & Local Government (DHPLG), as to whether or not travel undertaken by any Councillor in a personal capacity with an external public body, should be aggregated with travel done in relation to their role as a Councillor, for the purposes of calculating the correct mileage band for Councillors. This query was in turn passed on to the Department of Public Expenditure & Reform (DPER), whose response was referred to by DHPLG, which in turn responded to the Council. DPER's response included the following sentence: It is the Department’s view that all mileage should be aggregated where an applicant is claiming from more than one public service body. I am seeking copies of all communications in this exchange that DPER holds.