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TDS AND SENATORS received travel and allowances of over three quarter of a million euro in parliamentary allowances in August – a month in which neither the Dáil or Seanad held any sittings.
Records published by the Houses of the Oireachtas show 224 of the 226 members of either house received payments totalling €764,101.84 under the Parliamentary Standard Allowances scheme in August, despite their being no meetings of the Dáil, Seanad or any Oireachtas committee.
Attendance records also published by the Houses of the Oireachtas show that the 226 members were present at Leinster House for a total of 547 days in August – an average of just 2.42 days per member.
Fine Gael TD Noel Harrington, who lives the farthest distance from Leinster House of any member of the Oireachtas, received the highest allowance of €5,295.84 – though attendance records do not record him signing in to Leinster House on any date in August.
Independent deputy Michael Healy-Rae is next, receiving €5,233.84 for August. He is recorded as having been in Leinster House for five days in August.
A total of 26 deputies received over €5,000 in allowances for the month. Each of them is recorded as having opted for ‘vouched’ expenses – meaning they are entitled to a higher monthly allowance, in return for making themselves available for audit. Only a tenth of members claiming ‘vouched’ expenses are liable for an audit of their spending, however.
The highest allowance recipient who does not vouch for their expenses – meaning their spending is not open to question – is Fine Gael’s Michael Creed, who is entitled to a higher band of expenses given his commuting distance from Macroom in north-west Cork. He received €4,279.17 in August.
Only two members – NUI senator Prof John Crown, and Labour TD Eamonn Maloney of Dublin South-West – are recorded as having declined their allowances for August.
The Parliamentary Standard Allowance also includes payments to cover the cost of running parliamentary offices and conducting constituency business, so it is possible for members to legitimately incur expenses while the Oireachtas is in recess.
Oireachtas allowance systems mean the payments are made to members in advance of them incurring any potential travel expenses. Members are expected to return any unused expenses at the end of the year. In 2011, about a third of TDs returned some allowances.
Ministers and junior ministers are not entitled to travel expenses from the Oireachtas, as these are covered by their government departments – but each is entitled to a flat rate of either €1,666.67 (for vouched) or €1,000 (for unvouched) per month to cover the cost of running constituency offices.
18 ministers opt for the higher rate of vouched expenses, while 12 – including eight of the 15 ‘senior’ ministers – choose the lower unvouched rate.
The full allowance records for August 2012 can be found here for TDs, and here for Senators.
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fair play Bob. massive respect.
“Were people dying in the United States, in France, and in Germany and in England”.
Yet when people were dying in Northern Ireland, “Sir” Bob was happy to pal around and accept titles from Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative nutters.
you begrudging good-for-nothing. You’re not fit to walk in his shadow. What have you ever done for mankind except begrudge those who try to do something worthwhile?
Sir Bob is a dude! he’s been witness to a lot of tragedy including personal tragedy and he just keeps plugging away. With his money he could easily fade into the background and live a handy life but he chooses to campaign and raise money. Some man for one man!
Eh… just Bob… not a real sir….
Brian,
People call him ‘Sir Bob’ as a nickname because he got some kind of knighthood – KBE, I think – from the queen.
If you were pedantic though, you could technically say ‘he’s not actually Sir Bob’.
And if you knew what you were talking about you’d know he received an honoury knighthood… just like Tony o Reilly. … you also know that they are given to non UK or commonwealth people and that the title Sir does not go along with it…. I doubt very much Geldof refers to himself as sir just the wannabe idiots spouting on about it
Yes, a KBE …and we call him Sir Bob because it’s his nickname.
Don’t worry about it anyway, Brian – that’s the main thing.
Well put Elaine
Ah, come off it, Journal. My comment was fair comment. Why delete it?
All I said was, if he focused on his own immediate family instead of trying to save the world, would both he, and they by extension, be better off?
He said as much himself ffs.
If your focus was eleswhere we would all be better off Niall
Why would he need to be “focusing” on a grown adult daughter who has a husband to look after he and plenty of money?
@niall I imagine he’s the kind of guy who looks at the bigger picture not his immediate personal issues. And to be fair what can he do when his grown up married children do drugs in secret? The world as a whole is better off with Sir Bob doing what he does!
Well, Neal, his now tragically deceased daughter is on the record as saying – to paraphrase – he never bothered much with the grand kids.
….its another case of bob the builder so…….Leave it to bob we don’t have to think for ourselves or consider inacting anything he proposes…he is saying that ending these constructed paradigms that a billion people face today is possible and within reach….Elaine…..is there something that you could manifest to carry his words or is the blade on his sholder just a division of power?
So what? You don’t have to bother with your grand kids, they’re your kid’s responsibility.
That’s true. So by your logic …..he certainly doesn’t have to bother with aids.
No I don’t suppose there is but at least you can sit back behind one of your latest anonymous profiles and feel really super intelligent after that comment. So I guess in a roundabout way I helped one person today…. No need to thank me ;)
I don’t know why he is attacking Australians as the video says.
They topped the World Giving Index a few years ago, while he dodges his tax in Britain.
I would have though with his life experiences and all his millions and all the good advice he dishes out he’d have made his family and home bomb proof before saving the world. If anyone could have saved that child from her self he could.
Bob should marry Sinead O Connor —- they both are so alike it’s uncanny, between the 2 of them they could save a lot of people. If they need any more help good old Bono could save the day. We are lucky in Ireland to have the 3 of them — they seem to know everything and know how everything should be done. Did they go to the same school or are they just typical Irish People ? They could be called the Holy Trinity or I can’t think of an appropriate neme just now.
Peaches was lucky she had sterile needles twitch or no twitch. Would the 100 experts or so who perished on the Malaysian flight consider their work as you can do this shit!!!!
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