THE OIREACHTAS spent more than €9,600 of taxpayers’ money on more than 200,000 customised Christmas cards that were distributed by TDs and Senators ahead of the recent festive season.
One of the perks Oireachtas members enjoy is the ability to avail of an “in-house” printing service allowing them to produce individualised cards they can send to constituents and others.
With well over half of TDs and Senators using the service, it appears that, in the age of Twitter and text messaging, old-fashioned Christmas cards remain attractive to politicians – despite the controversies they have given rise to in the past. An Oireachtas spokeswoman confirmed that 132 of the full 226 members of both houses had cards printed in-house, with a total of 217,020 cards produced at the end of last year.
Oireachtas Christmas cards cost taxpayers almost €10,000 (Irish Times)
