Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
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.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Will the Garda be called by the civil servant who signs the checks?
@Frank 2521
No!
That money could have been spent on the residents of Priory Hall. Shame on all of them. To me, that’s stealing, I don’t give 2 sh1ts if it law that they receive it. Someone in there has to have some kind of morals, to step forward and stop this from going on any more.
I wonder what job, public or private would pay expenses when your not actually at work and even then, still allow you a flat rate without receipts to prove what you spent the money on…It’s ridiculous..No, it’s a disgrace….
It’s accepted.
I have been trying to contact Noel Harrington recently as one of his constituents but have seemingy been completely ignored. Apparently himself and the other local TD have refused to share office space and so rent separate offices for their, what is it, 3 hours a week? in attendence.
That is, other local Fine Gael TD……
Selfish people, in the job for a good time, and nothing else. Well done @Ann for making those calls, maybe We should all start doing the same, bombard your local TD’s, let them know how unhappy you are with the way thing are being run. fair play to you Ann .
well now does that say a lot about the senate vote to keep it r get rid of all these hanger ons. does any know how many a given a present of being a senator who does not even require a vote to get all this
Farcical.
I am sick and tired of these greedy gurriers creaming the systems while the rest of us suffer day in and day out trying to excist.
It’s a *@*@#*@ joke. On one hand you have noonan looking to make savings on allowences and this is going on…..
This has to stop. How can this be done ? Realistically. Calling for it to stop —- no good. Calling for vouchers —-no good . You can ” call ” for all you want but they won’t call back. Will they call at election time. I f they wabt you vote they will. Then again, if you do not give them your vote they will not get elected if enough people do likewise.
Then a new lot are elected and the train goes rolling along again. Picket their Constituency offices ? We might take them away with us too as we are paying for them. How can we stop this activity?
Stop spending money unless it is completely necessary. Barter and exchange when possible. Use cash. : )
That’s for a start.
Not spending money is the quickest way.
Rory, the European Elections and the Local Elections are coming up in the next couple of years. We could/should use these to give our greedy, amoral career politicans a bloody nose.
Yvonne why wait till then? Why not contact your local TD’s and ask them how they incurred those expenses do it via email or face to face.
In one month alone the Government could have saved 10% of the expenses Howlin was looking to cut from his fellow Public Servants. I believe this is the reason he bottled it. Cutting 75m from people who actually work would have meant he’d have had to look at the slush fund he and his fellow TDs and Senators cream off every month.
Smoked Salmon and Champagne Socialist. No better than Bertie at this stage for fleecing the taxpayer. Let down by another Wexford politician who was supposed to be different.
@Sinabhfuil Welocme,, yes its a scam, and a scam to keep the ruling class in power,, sure they dress up in different clothes from time to time, FF or FG and give what you think is “Choice” but how can it be choice if no matter what you vote the same polices are followed,but these are simply Stewart’s acting on behalf of the people in charge,, who are these?? well we just paid them a billion today and by end of 2013 i think the grand sum they will get is 35 billion.
so its the illusion of Democracy that is gone that you are shocked over, but this has been gone for some time now, for some time we have all lived in a world were big business calls the shots, what makes money is persuaded eg WARS, what doesn’t feeding the starving well we know how many years this has been going on,, as soon as food was traded like stocks well these pep[le were doomed.
IMO Most do not enter this system with the idea of becoming corrupt etc but its the system that forces them into this and slowly turns them into “Politicians” were double dealing, lying is all dismissed as Politics…….
“TDS AND SENATORS received travel and allowances of over €700,000 in parliamentary allowances in August – a month in which neither the Dáil or Seanad held any sittings.”
Jesus H Christ!
“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.”
Jesus H Christ!
The Taoiseach, tanaiste , minister for justice and minister for finance
Get a 7 MILLION € for travel expenses.
This Is absolutely ridiculous.
Between the Taoiseach and the president alone they make over 1/2 MILLION each year.
Now if we look at the wage of a working person and then the wages of government officials- where do you think would be the smartest place to start cutting from??
THE TOP!
http://www.change.org/petitions/supporting-the-irish-nation-step-down-from-government
When I see dislikes about a comment left by anyone here, I always wonder why??? Is it because a comment has offended someone with bad language or that it may have an abusive tone?? Probably not, it is usually because someone dares to tell the truth and some people dont like the truth. If you dislike, please be brave enough to leave a comment as to why and at least then we can have a constructive debate.
Or someone just hit the wrong button and couldn’t change it. It’s rare to see a universally approved comment unless the numbers approving it are quite small.
As sure as eggs is eggs, someone is going to disagree with you and they’re within their rights under the t/c of the sight not to have to explain to you why. If the thumbs down bothers you so much, you probably shouldn’t be posting here.
Hi Daisy, It’s not that it bothers me as such, it’s just that i like to know why. We’re all adults here and If a person can leave a comment for and against, then I call it a healthy debate and if asking for that offends people, then maybe they should not be here. Too many people hide behind anonymity, I say stand up and be counted, If you need to say something, say it and be done.
I could’nt agree more with Trevor Lyons… It’s about time people spoke up and speak their mind….
They should get more, after all they are super beings and know whats best for us all!
No wonder they are looking at cutting children allowance, they need the money to pay these a$$holes!
It’s a great little country we have where we can pay expenses to our politicians for doing nothing and also pay 1 billion to financial sharks for loosing their bets!
We get the government we elect.
That is true but the policies we were assured we would receive once these parties were elected have not come to fruition and will not happen. Therefore you have to ask the question do they have a mandate to govern…..
Of course they dont have the mandate now. But my simple statement stands.
You elect a lying corrupt group of people and expect representation, patriotism and change.
Remember the cheers and celebrations when FG/Lab won?? Everyonew sat back thinking we witnessed an ‘Obama moment’ of our own.
We fall for the banking lies.
We fall for the ‘Cheapest Bailout in history’
We fall for the scape goat that is the Quinn family.
We fall for the ‘Not one more red cent’.
We fall for the “Our way or Frankfurts Way’
We do nothing then when the above is exposed.
We do nothing when the government do not have a mandate.
We do nothing when our government borrows money at interest for the sole purpose to give it back to the same lenders, which they inturn lend it back to us with more interest.
We do nothing when the government contiues to give our multibillion euro deposits of Oil and Gas.
We get the government we elect and we are to blame. If we want change, we need to change at every level.
We fall for
We do nothing then when the above is exposed.
We do nothing when the government do not have a mandate.
I was so full of joy the night of the election – the corruption and cynicism of the last 30 years was gone at last, and we were going to have a government of straight players with a commitment to justice.
I honestly expected Enda Kenny to stand up on his first day as Taoiseach and announce: “No politician and no government employee will be paid over €50,000 – a good living wage – until this crisis is over. We’re in this together: we’ll solve it together.”
O bitter irony.
I can’t think what to do in the next election, except to spoil my vote, writing on it “What’s the point?”
@Sinabhfuil, I personally was shocked at the last general election that everyone went into party mode when the new coalition was formed, I was glad that Fianna Fáil were gone, but I knew that there was no difference between them and FG and Labour. If the Irish public were more aware they would have known not to vote in these two parties as it was just going to be a continuation of the status quo. I’m glad more and more people like yourself have seen through the sham now, but when you see polls with FG at 32% after all that’s happened since they got into power you can only despair. I agree when people say we don’t have much of an alternative, but in order for these 3 parties to start representing their citizens with respect and selflessness, we need at least one general election where none of them hold the reigns of power, until that happens, we will continue to be held in contempt and treated like dirt while they go into a delirious trance every time Brussels calls, it’s like the Manchurian candidate with Enda getting patted on the head by Sarkozy, brainwashed EU-head Lucinda Creighton and Bilderberger Court Jester Noonan, sickening.
But some of us tend to forget, Pepole are the master & government are the servant, elected to serve the people. True fact, but sadly somewhere along the line this has been lost, possibly because of years of oppression dishedout by the church.
And what will we do about it????? Nothing.
Bend over people and get ready for the next instalment.
What would you suggest we do?
Anything has to be better then doing nothing Mark.
I agree Gary.
So, what would you suggest we do?
That would work, I mean, not some meaningless march that causes bad PR for a few days (face it, with this lot, you can’t embarrass them from office) or something illegal.
Sadly,sadly true….Things like that have made me a keyboard warrior.
.
They are claiming over €50,000 a year when their already on a salary of over €100,000 for what????
Yet every time they get the chance their cutting our money down bit by bit but its alrite so long as they swan around without a care in the world.
A joke of a government!
I mean enda Kenny spent 25000 e in a pub on “expenses” in one night. Give the citizens of Ireland €25000 nd I guarantee it wouldn’t be wasted down the pub.
And if we don’t get these people out now and change the way the system works, once their there over 2 years they can also claim pensions of over 100,000 even though the pension age is 65.
The hole system needs reform nd first thing is for these shower of hypocrites to be told to F**k off as they done nothing but gave us empty promises, then done nothing but introduced a load of taxes charges etc etc.
A working Irish citizen lives off approx €35,000 a year and ye have the cheek to tell us that this budget will be the toughest ever, we,re hearing the same line since 2008 but we don’t see ye taking any payouts.
The wages and expenses of the dail are absolutely fukin ridiculous, I wouldn’t mind if they were actuali working for the people but their NOT, why don’t they pay the debts of the banks themselves their making 3 times more than what we do.
Yet we are just leaving them come at us with everything and bearing the brunt of it.
They will have us back in the times of the famine while they swan around with their ridiculous wages even though it is not the people of Ireland,s debt.
They make me sick.
http://www.change.org/petitions/supporting-the-irish-nation-step-down-from-government
*Paycuts
Where did you see that about Enda spending €25k in a pub in one night?
It was in the paper around a month to two months ago. I’m sure I still have it. Ill have a route :)
The 25K was that not in reference to the cost of FG think in last month?
What a joke a gov. An insult to the good people of this once great country
No, it’s a global system that we feed every time we purchase some piece of crap that we don’t really need. It is a system responsible for starving millions of people to death every year, for forcing children in poverty to work as slaves, it is responsible for war-mongering and the arms trade, and finally it is responsible for the destruction of our beautiful planet.
One word “disgusting”
Ah look, come on here in anger won’t stop it or change it. Email and write to all your local unelected senators or TD’s and channel your anger that way. whill your on here ranting, they think they’ve got away with it again! Come on Keyboard warriors, kick down the right doors and rant!
Sadly true
Abolish all expences, there salaries are large enough
I wonder if Revenue are carrying out an investigation into Deputy Mick Wallace and his “Deliberate” non payment of VAT..?? Remember the man who said garlic was apples…he paid the money back but got jail…what about the man in Limerick who lost his buisness, home, family…owed Revenue less than 200k..he also got jail…So are our politicians immune from being held accountable for their deliberate actions…guess not…that makes me sad…
How does it compare to months when they are in the Dáil or Seanad? As the article mentions they can claim for running their constituency offices and other non Dáil/Seanad expenses.
I would urge everybody to join the campaign against the household and water taxes for the simple reason that we should all not have to pay these unjust taxes if our income falls every year, and their income increases. When one is on a fixed income, it is hard to find a job, especially if your are unemployed, you can’t work as you are looking over your shoulder to see if anyone is watching you, and then someone reports you for social welfare fraud, and that is fraud that all the politicians are playing too, getting all those allowances when they are not sitting in the dail. Fair play to Professor Crown and the other person for not claiming their expenses.
Everybody needs to start keeping a scrap book of all this corruption and fraud for when election time comes around, lest we forget again.
Worth every cent! What a marvellous bunch of people! I’m so glad we live in a democracy were every five years we get to swap the same people around and give those who don’t get elected a hefty severance payment.
so much is it per annum disgusting
I really dont know wether to laugh or cry, today we have talk of childrens allowence cuts, and then this comes out, it just beggers belief.
this is despicable. this should be a bigger scandal and should be top of the agenda. I’m in minister noonans constituency and will look him up over this.
Folks lets be honest with ourselves, as one commenter put it, we are all adults. We are a country of approximately 5 million…. calculate what politicians are being paid in pensions and i mean all retired politicians and calculate what that cost us. I wonder how such a small country like Ireland can sustain this,and i am sure the politicians know we can’t sustain this,but don’t give a shit as long as the money goes into there accounts. I returned to ireland 6 years ago after living overseas for 26 years thinking things have changed compared to the 70s and 80s, the country has changed ,good in some ways, bad in others, but Irish government politics haven’t changed and they are still looking after each other pockets and pretending to care about the people and the country.
I really believe they think the people of this country are stupid and accept what’s going on and thinking everything will be alright on the day. Yes, it will be alright on the day but not before the politicians are richer and the people who voted them in are poorer. Will be out of this country hopefully sooner rather than later and won’t be back which is sad cause i love this country,but politics and the politicians stink and everything they do is for there own glory and not the people or the country.
BOOOOOOOOOO :(
Assuming their participation in the Dail really even matters, why can’t we just have video conferencing set up? There are excellent systems these days for very large meetings and it would be considerably cheaper for the taxpayer if all participants joined by webcam rather than all the travel and accommodation costs; let alone time wasted on the road or in the Dail bar.
It would make the Ceann Comhairle’s job a lot easier. He can moderate more effectively if he has a mute button.
Are you for real….
Tell me you’re taking the piss
Same auld same auld….
The great goverment that claws back every penny rewards themselves with this outlandish expences…F***KING JOKE…
And they want to cut children’s allowance , farcical
Are you for real….
Tell me you’re taking the piss
Same auld same auld….
The great goverment that claws back every penny rewards themselves with this outlandish expences…F……. Joke..
I just can’t understand it how the revenue commissioners are not all over this one as any one in business knows you can’t not pay untouched expenses to an employee unless it is under the civil service rates with the corresponding records kept. Pay an employee 50 euro to cover his travel to a site of work and revenue will insist paye/Parsi is paid on it. This Ireland of one rule for the people and another for the rulers must change. At least china does not pretend they are all the same.
lets get a boycott on allmortgage repayments until a sense of the despair real people are feeling is been recognised by our so called politicians who are disgustingly reaping massive payments while we are broke as a nation paying unsecured bondholders 1billion euro today I think they need to understand that US proud Irish people will now stand together for once and with one voice say NO MORE through a peaceful boycott of all mortgage repayments.they’ll only understand real action.like if you agree and are prepared to stand up
Who is judging these bastards they seem to get away with anything, unlike their British counterparts they got reigned in by the people that voted them in and sorted them out.
When i share my comment on Facebook why is it that it does not appear in news feed…
I want every one to read this article.
Who is in charge of signing off these phantom expenses?.
Let him/her come forward and explain how TD Harrington got over €5,000 in expense allowance at a time the Dail was not sitting, and when there was no record of him attending Leinster House at any time in the month he claimed for?
Who is signing these cheques? I know we are paying them, but just exactly who is OK’ing them?
PS.Anyone know any contribution Harrington has made to Dail life since the election?
leeches bleeding the state dry,,, average 5 k a month each in expenses ,,, no morals no shame
Are you suprised with this article, I’m certainly not. We allow this to happen, so stop your moaning.
have your say