Time folks please... just not in the Dáil bar
The Irish Examiner recently revealed how one Oireachtas member owed the restaurant more than €5,600 at the end of last year, while 12 others each owed between €1,000 and €3,000. Separate figures showed one member owed the bar €1,422.10.
Following questions from this paper, the commission which runs the Oireachtas has admitted it sets no “formal limits” on the amount of credit a TD or senator can claim in the bar or restaurant. Neither does it set any credit periods to ensure TDs and senators settle their bills within a set time.
“No formal limits are set by the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission on the amount of credit, if any, that may be offered to a customer of the bar or the restaurant,” it said. “This is because both premises are operated on a professional, commercial basis and decisions on the granting or refusal of such facilities are made on a case-by-case basis by the management or senior staff of the premises.
“No formal time limit [credit period] exists for the same reason. However, statements issue on a monthly basis to customers,” it added.
The commission said that bills “may be written off” from time to time in “appropriate circumstances”, such as the death of a TD or senator.
The figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act showed one member owed the restaurant €5,612.80 at the end of last year.
Another member owed €3,070.41, a third owed €3,049.75, a fourth owed €2,511.70 and a fifth owed €2,351.70.
Overall, 157 of the Oireachtas’s 226 TDs and senators owed a total of €74,941 to the restaurant, working out an at average debt of €477.
The next four highest bills were €314.40, €283.65, €267.98 and €262.45.
Overall, 37 of the 226 members owed a total of €4,419, with the average debt working out at €127.56.
The Oireachtas refused a request to disclose the identities of the TDs and senators involved.
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