Tag Archives: Expenses

To recap (via yesterday’s Irish Independent):

TDs were on average managing to spend only two-thirds of their “unvouched” (that is they didn’t have to produce receipts) annual expenses of €25,700. The logical response from the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to this situation should have been to cut the unvouched expenses allowance to the amount that TDs were actually spending.

Instead Mr Howlin has allowed TDs to spend the money they were unable to spend on unvouched expenses on hiring an extra secretaries and public relations consultants instead.

S.I. No. 37/2012 — Oireachtas (Allowances) (Amendment) Regulations 2012.

(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)

Two support groups for people affected by hepatitis C from contaminated blood products spent more than €250,000 on weekends away, golf trips, pool table hire and conferences in 2010, documents released by the HSE reveal.

Transfusion Positive and Positive Action are both funded by the HSE and receive about €860,000 between them annually

….Documents received by The Irish Times under a Freedom of Information request reveal that Transfusion Positive spent €132,856 on five weekends away for its members and non-infected family members in Ireland in 2010.

Oh.

Two Hepatitis C Support Groups Spent Over €250,000 On Trips (Pamela Duncan and Martin Wall, Irish Times)

Ruairi Quinn’s Mystery €1,400 mileage Claim: Minister says He Drove 5,100kms but his diary shows only 1,000km (Ken Foxe, Mail On Sunday)

Meanwhile, over on NAMA Wine Lake is the first part of an examination of TDs pay and benefits by

…examining the salaries, allowances, benefits, perks and entitlements paid to our politicians in our bankrupt country. Part One details most of the financial rewards on offer and is largely derived from Oireachtas in house publications

On top of the basic salary of €92,672 a TD can claim a range of expenses such as

When any members attend certain so-called “parliamentary assemblies” eg the OSCE, they can claim hotel expenses, a subsistence allowance plus up to 80% of the allowance for “casual entertaining”
A Parliamentary Assistant
Up to €41,092 per TD for secretarial assistance, PR, IT and training
Free parking in central Dublin
Gym
Subsidised restaurant
Private Members bar at Leinster House with subsidised drinks
Free tax advice service
Free language lessons
Postage – 1,500 free postage items per month for TDs and 1,000 for senators
Free unlimited fixed line telephone calls
Max of €750 every 18 months to buy a new mobile phone

All of them are, of course, worth every penny and more. You couldn’t possibly expect them to run the country and be kept awake at night with money woes.

Apparently all our expenses claims get eaten by Chompsky.

Thanks DD

Previously

(Photocall Ireland)

 

Donations And Election Expenses (Standards In Public Office)

“Newly-elected Fine Gael TD Michelle Mulherin (above) claimed the most out of all the Mayo TDs, even though she only took office in February 2011. She claimed a total of €46,133.39 last year. From March to November 2011, Ms Mulherin claimed over €1,000 per week, which equates to over €300 more than the average weekly industrial wage in expenses alone. The average weekly industrial wage stands at €693 per week, according to the Central Statistic Office.

Five Mayo TDs claimed €168k last year (Rowan Gallagher, Mayo News)

Previously: Fine Gael Through Thick And Thin