Allowance system overhaul must suit changing face of Dáil

WHEN the then Fianna Fáil finance minister Seán McEntee announced in 1938 he was introducing an allowance for the leader of the opposition, he caused uproar in his party.

But the principle that some subvention was needed to maintain a strong opposition has always been essential to parliamentary democracy, and has stood the test of time.

Consecutive governments ever since have maintained the Party Leaders’ Allowance, although it has been altered, increased, and expanded over the years to include Government parties and Independent TDs.

Brendan Howlin, the public expenditure and reform minister, is proposing to change it again with legislation that will go before Cabinet in the autumn.

But whether the new system will be enough to suit the changing face of the Dáil — with its various new groupings and growing number of Independents — is likely to be the subject of intense debate.

The payment is worth €71,520 for the first 10 TDs in a party, €57,214 for the next 20, and €28,616 for each TD after that. There is then a third reduction to the overall sum for parties in Government. In total, it costs the State just over €9m a year during this Coalition’s term, and is broken down as follows:

* €2.7m to Fine Gael;

* €1.8m to Labour;

* €1.6m to Fianna Fáil;

* €1m to Sinn Féin;

* €143,040 to the Socialist Party;

* €143,040 to People Before Profit.

In addition, 15 Independent TDs are paid allowances amounting to €617,280 — or €41,172 each.

The draft outline of the Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) Act 2013 proposes to cut the payment by 10% across the board, in line with an announcement in last December’s budget. It also plans to rename it the Parliamentary Activities Allowance — to reflect both its purpose and the fact that it is also paid to independent members.

It contains a number of other changes to make the system more transparent, including a requirement to pay back unspent amounts and have the expenditure audited by the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo).

But, crucially, the new law does not propose to change the system whereby it is awarded to parties based on their results in the last general election, and not the number of TDs serving.

“At this time, it is not proposed to change the current position with regard to members of the Oireachtas whose status changes (either by leaving or joining a parliamentary party) during the lifetime of the Dáil or Seanad,” Mr Howlin said in an internal-briefing note on the legislation seen by the Irish Examiner.

This anomaly has resulted in a number of controversial situations in the past, including when Beverly Cooper Flynn was entitled to keep her €41,000 allowance after she rejoined Fianna Fáil from the opposition benches in 2008.

In the current Dáil, it has created the situation whereby Joe Higgins, the only TD from the Socialist Party, gets €143,000 a year while Clare Daly, who left the party, gets nothing as an Independent.

And it means that Labour, which now has 33 TDs, gets paid in respect of 37 elected in the last election and one in a subsequent by-election, while Fine Gael, which has 70 under its whip, gets paid the allowance in respect of 76 elected in 2011.

The five Labour TDs who lost the party whip over decisions their leadership has taken in Government are getting no financial support for research, advice, or other activities, while their party is getting almost €100,000, which it was awarded because they were elected.

Similarly, the five Fine Gael TDs who lost the whip over their opposition to the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Act will be deprived of the financial support to help fulfil their roles as members of the Dáil.

Galway East TD Colm Keaveney, who was expelled from the Labour Parliamentary Party over his opposition to last year’s budget, said the system creates an “uneven playing field” in the current Dáil.

“The system is unfair, particularly with the emergence of a significant number of independents or those who are not aligned to a party whip,” he said,

Mr Keaveney believes the system creates “golden handcuffs” that act as a disincentive to TDs who want to vote against their party because they will be without the resources needed for research and other services that parliamentarians need.

“There is a constitutional requirement for a TD to serve their constituents,” he said. However, the whip system means resources are concentrated at parties, which have the added advantage of collectively purchasing services like polling, research, consultancy. and advice.

If Mr Howlin needs any convincing of how the system needs to be updated to serve the current parliamentary landscape, he need only look to his own party history.

In 2001, the then finance minister, Charlie McCreevy, changed the law — at the request of the Labour Party — that would allow them retain the allowance of both parties after they merged with Democratic Left.

Mr McCreevy also used the opportunity to double the allowance paid to Independents — some of whom had been supporting the Fianna Fáil government at the time.

Such political reasoning for changing the system does not exist when it comes to accommodating the Dáil’s new Independents, or TDs without a whip.

While the principle of financial support for a strong opposition remains, so too does the belief in Government that there should not be a financial incentive to walk out on a party.