TDs & senators claim €880k in untaxed allowances

Independent TDs and senators received some €878,389 in unvouched and untaxed allowances on top of their salaries last year.

A total of €617,279 was available to non-party members of the Dáil and €261,110 to non-party members of the Seanad last year.

Under the party leaders’ allowances scheme, Independent TDs are paid €41,152 for a full year, while Independent senators are given €23,383.

Unlike political parties, which also qualify for funding under the scheme, independent politicians do not have to publicly disclose how they spend the funds.

The funding is not subject to income tax and may not be used for electoral or referendum purposes.

The widely criticised system is due to be changed following a review last year. A number of changes to make the system more transparent are due to come into force from next month.

Political parties received a total of €12.9m in state funding last year.

Six parties (Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, People before Profit Alliance, Sinn Féin, the Labour Party, and the Socialist Party) received €7.5m under the leader’s allowance legislation.

Four parties (FF, FG, SF, and Labour) received total funding of €5.5m under the Electoral Acts.

Last year, Labour was criticised for taking in almost €100,000 in Dáil allowances in respect of the five TDs who had lost the party whip and moved to the opposition benches.

The unvouched leader’s allowance is intended to help parties with research and parliamentary activities.

It amounts to €71,520 for the first 10 TDs, €57,214 for the next 20, and €28,616 after that. The sum is reduced by a third for parties in Government.