Truant TDs set to be shamed on internet

TRUANT TDs and senators will be named and shamed when their attendance records are made public for the first time from next month.

The attendance records of politicians at Leinster House will be released on the internet, following the introduction of the new Oireachtas clocking-in system earlier this year.

A spokesman for the Houses of the Oireachtas confirmed the records of 133 TDs and 60 senators under the system would “go live” in September.

“It’s all going to be out in the open,” he added.

Under an expenses regime rolled out in March, parliamentarians will no longer claim daily expense allowances but instead receive a yearly amount for accommodation and travel costs.

But the expense allowance will only be paid out if TDs have managed to attend Leinster House for at least 120 days each year.

A clock-in system was introduced with politicians recording their attendance electronically by using a fob or by signing in on a register. The attendance records will be available online on the first day of every month detailing the number of days TDs and senators were at Leinster House.

The Oireachtas spokesman said once records went online, they would show the attendance of politicians since March this year. A snapshot of records released earlier this year two weeks after the clock-in system began showed just 17 of 136 TDs listed had full attendance records.

Cabinet ministers and ministers of state are excluded from the new system as their expenses are paid by their own departments and not the Houses of the Oireachtas. Three TD seats also remain empty in Donegal, South Dublin and Waterford.

Further figures released last month showed 85 TDs and senators had missed one or more of the 23 Oireachtas Committee meetings since the Dáil went into recess on July 8. Fianna Fáil Mayo TD Beverley Flynn was absent most in the last three weeks, failing to attend six meetings.