Independents net €1.4m in tax-free money

INDEPENDENT TDs received almost €1.4 million of taxpayers’ money on top of their salaries over the past three years and did not have to explain how they spent it.

The Irish Examiner yesterday revealed how the five Independents in the current Dáil will each receive more than €39,000 in addition to their salaries this year — money which they won’t have to pay tax on or account for.

The five — Tony Gregory, Beverly Flynn, Michael Lowry, Jackie Healy-Rae and Finian McGrath — all qualify for the state funding known as the Party Leaders’ Allowance. But the Independents in the last Dáil also received the allowance.