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TDS AND SENATORS yesterday received advice to counter what Leinster House authorities dubbed a ‘disingenuous’ story about the allowances they receive for their work.
The advice, sent via email to all members of the Oireachtas and seen by TheJournal.ie, followed what were referred to as ‘incorrect’ media reports about TDs and Senators being paid the Parliamentary Standard Allowance for August despite the Oireachtas being in recess.
The story, though not widely reported, was that TDs claimed allowances of more than €500,000 in August even though the Dáil was not sitting, while Senators were paid allowances of over €150,000 for August when the Seanad sat once.
In the email, TDs and Senators were informed: “The Communications Unit has endeavoured to explain the fact that this is not a monthly allowance but an annual allowance and relates to the annual work of a TD/Senator and not their specific activity in a given month.
“However, paper doesn’t refuse ink and so this story is becoming an annual media yarn each September.”
Indeed, TheJournal.ie previously reported this in October 2012 when TDs and Senators received payments totalling over €764,000 under the Parliamentary Standard Allowances scheme in August 2012, despite there being no meetings of the Dáil, Seanad or any Oireachtas committee.
The Parliamentary Standard Allowance includes payments to TDs and Senators to cover travel, 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.
Yesterday’s email from the Oireachtas Communications Unit warned TDs and Senators that they might get questions from local media about the story in the coming days and offered a standard explanation which they could use:
“The Parliamentary Standard Allowance is an annual allowance paid to Members of the Houses of the Oireachtas. For administrative purposes and in line with many other professions (i.e. Teachers), it is paid on a monthly basis. It is disingenuous to associate payment of this allowance with the only non-sitting month of the year.“For Members to receive their full Travel and Accommodation allowance they must attend for a minimum of 12O (sic) days per annum. Please also note many if not all Members will have exceeded the minimum number of days by the month of August.”
However, the report on members’ sitting days from 1 January to the end of August this year shows that far from “many if not all members” exceeding the 120 minimum number of attendance days by the month of August, just 15 TDs and four senators have clocked in for that minimum amount of days.
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I travel to work to earn a living.When I attend work,I work bloody hard.Can I please get a travel allowance and an allowance for turning up for work.
It goes to prove that EVERY single TD are not living In the real world.
There must be a bucket of crap coming down the line from the budget for us little people next week.So the government is digging in already explaining there expenses. No news on the €50000 for un vouched expenses?
Unbelievable. And the irony is they are countering the “disingenuous media yarn” with a disingenuous yarn of their own.
“Can I please get a travel allowance and an allowance for turning up for work.”
I honestly think that Dublin TDs and those in the Greater Dublin Area (Wicklow, Kildare etc.) should not receive any travel allowances, given their proximity to their employment.
But those living outside a reasonable commuting distance should be the only ones to receive travel allowances. Rather than an expensive vouched system, they should be given a Leap Card which is automatically topped up monthly. If they can demonstrate that they live somewhere where there is inadequate public transport (e.g. Donegal) then they should be given mileage reimbursements.
The communications unit no doubt run by a senior cicil servant. Could he/she please explain why this has been inaccurately portrayed? Is this indicative of how this unit performs its duties?
An excellent piece.
So politicians are coached in how to lie to the people, at the people’s expense, about how much they’re fleecing us.
Gettting paid to show up for Work! It would make you laugh till you cry. They are all utterly shameless. They have trimmed so much fat from the budgets at this point that they are now slicing into the bone.
Is every politician spoon feed what to say and do for gods sake it’s ridiculous
Dirty rotten shower of self serving parasites. There is not one TD in this corpse of a democracy that I have an ounce of respect for. But sure when you have a sub human species like Kenny leading the country, what do you expect???
We had a chance to get rid of a bunch of freeloaders last week, but rather than use our heads, we decided to kick Kenny in the bollox. Understandable as this is, I can think of a hundred better ways of getting rid of this embarrassing clown!
You have to have bollox for them to be kicked…unfortunately Dame Edna is found wanting in the balls department.
Unfortunately our only options are clowns,our we can have clowns.
Comparing themselves to teachers. What bloody ‘allowances’ do we get? Can’t understand why people just let them get away with this. There is a very well oiled machine doing the best it can to turn different professions against each other (and succeeding). People should wake up & smell the $π!+ that is being spread.
Love to have a allowance for attending work that was not my pay. If I could find work. And will anybody that voted to save sixty of these jobs please not comment as you had a chance to reform the system but actually voted for the status quo
Snouts at the trough
No wonder the likes of Frank 40 houses fahy and others can build up a small property empire,With the way expenses are giving away.
When I worked for one of the worlds largest companies expenses were only paid out for approved business purposes – a very clear set of rules. They had to be “reasonable” and be covered by a receipt for the expenditure. All travel, hotels etc was arranged by an international agent at the best available rates, and they enforced the company rules on class of travel etc so you knew you were operating within the corporate rules. The only exception to the rule for receipts was for up to £3 per day for coffee etc. When dining on business, whether alone, with colleagues or with customers or suppliers, the ratio of alcohol cost to food cost was set at a fair level………no £20 meal with a £50 bottle of wine etc.
That was a private company. Why should similar rules not be in place for elected representatives and all public servants spending public money ?
Because they set their own rules. Do these people not realise that what they are doing is bound to leave them open to accusations of malpractice, corruption or whatever ? Or do they simply not care ?
Beggars belief.
You should publish the list of those fifteen ?!?!?
I still can’t believe we voted to keep them we could saved 60 crazy salary’s 60 pensions and a shit loads of expenses – we must be the must stupid sheep on the planet
It’s a joke and they are all laughing at us….
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