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Ministers to keep €3,500 laundry allowance, Government confirms
Michael Noonan said he had no plans to remove the perk, which can be claimed as a tax refund by ministers who stay in hotels.
7.15am, 18 Jan 2012
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GOVERNMENT MINISTERS WILL keep a controversial €3,500 tax refund for having their clothes laundered, Michael Noonan has confirmed.
Noonan said there were no plans to remove or alter the unvouched cleaning allowance, which applies to ministers who stay in hotels while attending the Dáil, saying:
I do not intend to abolish the dual abode allowance at this time or to make changes to its operation.
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The allowance sparked controversy in November, when it was revealed in response to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty.
At the time Noonan said while ministers did not have to provide receipts to claim the tax refund, they could still be subject to checks by the Revenue Commissioners.
Last week he told Labour’s Robert Dowds that only ministers representing areas outside Dublin can claim the perk, which is part of the dual abode allowance enabling them to maintain a second residence in the capital. Noonan added:
It should be noted that it is only where an office holder uses hotel or guesthouse accommodation as his/her second residence that any costs in relation to laundry can be allowed.
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They are really pushing for civil war over there! the democratics want to be careful what they wish for.
Where’s the charges for the people who repressed the hunter Biden laptop fiasco, and lying calling it a “Russian misinformation” all in the run up too the last election because it would have been detrimental impact on Biden campaign! Election meddling at its finest by the democratics and intelligence services..
@I9AQcjXs: it’s not the democrats prosecuting him. Hunter biden is a private citizen and a republican led oversight commitee has admitted there is nothing illegal on the laptop. It is a nothing burger, as they say. If this is election meddling, what do you call trump asking georgia to ‘find’ 11k votes?
@I9AQcjXs: so Trump shouldn’t have to abide by the law because it might offend some of his lunatic supporters? Also you are way behind the time regarding Hunters laptop which even the GOP say is a nothing burger. Not to mention that he isn’t running for public office and never has. But you know who was running for office? Hillary Clinton, when her email story was announced the week before the election. But you’re not interested in facts are you? That’s why you didn’t know that the Laptop story has been done to death and proven to be much ado about nothing.
I’m not a supporter of trump but the alleged crimes committed in 2016 and 2020 are coming to the forefront now with prosecutions. He could have been prosecuted at the time but all this coming up now when he is running for election shows a pure political motivation to these allegations.
@Ciaran: can’t prosecute a sitting president, he was in office between those years. Also this particular offence didn’t happen until the end of 2020. Prosecutions in the USA take as long as they do here.
Finally an article on Niall Collins but surprise surprise, comments once again closed. Why do the journal feel he needs protecting from criticism or questions? None of this debacle is before the courts yet. Cowardly journal staff.
@ggg: Their website. Their terms and conditions. Their legal liability for content, including comments posted. I’m sure Their are plenty of forums on which you could comment online about that news story.
@ggg: It’s commonsense, not cowardice. We have strong libel laws in Ireland and the commentators on here aren’t exactly known for their ability to fact check what they’re posting.
@The Big Baba: I can’t reply directly to ggg, so have to reply by means of your own comment. In your eagerness to comment, you are forgetting
or ignoring that comments here can be retrospectively relevant if legal process commences. Think also of why Fox News fired Carlson yesterday.
ESRI warns of significant impacts to trade and GDP in the case of US protectionist policies
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