- NEWS
Martin wades into abortion debateAs the Dáil committee hearings continue on the abortion bill, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin has waded into the debate saying it is important that Christian believers "be, and seen to be, on the side of life, especially when life is most vulnerable".
Payment cuts see families pay rent shortfallLimits on rent supplement payments set by the Government are forcing thousands of families to make undeclared top-up payments to landlords to secure places to live.
- WORLD
Anger as North Korea launches another missileNorth Korea fired a short-range missile from its east coast, a day after launching three more of these missiles, a South Korean news agency said.
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- BUSINESS
Warnings over future of eurozoneThe eurozone is heading towards a break up unless there are moves towards much closer political and fiscal union, according to chief economist with State Street Global Advisers, Chris Probyn.
Bruton defends corporate tax rateIreland will be able to maintain its current corporation tax code in the face of international pressure to prevent multinational corporations avoid paying their fare share of tax, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton said yesterday.
- SPORT
Mayo’s statement of intentGalway 0-11 Mayo 4-16 Five minutes to go in Salthill yesterday and James Horan was still cajoling his men to sew it into Galway.
Wilkinson inspires Toulon to gloryASM Clermont Auvergne 15 Toulon 16 Not for the first time this season, a matchday performance and the result have made a mockery of the statistics.
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Breaking stories
SF silent over average wage query
By Mary Regan, Political Correspondent
Sinn Féin headquarters has refused to divulge whether or not it monitors the bank accounts of its TDs through local finance officers to ensure they only claim the average industrial wage.
There has been conflicting comments on the practice among the party’s TDs.Foreign affairs spokesperson, Pádraig MacLochlainn, said bank accounts are checked but finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said this is not true.
“There would be somebody within the party in Donegal who would assist me in terms of my tax compliance as an employer.
“But this is not directed from the party, it’s a relationship I have with somebody locally as a friend.”
Mr MacLochlainn, however, said local finance officers make sure TDs draw down the average industrial wage and use the remainder of their €92,000 salary to hire staff. “They are to ensure that you have complied with party policy and you have invested the money back into your constituency service.”
Both TDs have admitted to using cash claimed from travel expenses to pay part-time party workers — a practice that is in breach of Oireachtas rules.
Mr Doherty spent €24,000 of the €33,000 that he received for travel and accommodation expenses last year. He repaid €845.05 to the Oireachtas Commission, leaving a surplus of €8,000 which was used to pay for part-time workers in his constituency.
He said he did not know he had broken any rules: “If I am in breach in any shape or form of any of the regulations then no problem whatsoever, I will pay that money back. My understanding is, I was completely abiding by the rules.”
A Sinn Féin spokesperson said the TDs were meeting the Oireachtas Commission yesterday, but an Oireachtas spokesperson said no such meeting took place.
He said TDs are required to provide certification that the amount received was applied in respect of travelling to and from Leinster House.