100 Oireachtas members paid over €500,000 since 2011

At least 100 current Oireachtas members have received in excess of half a million euro in pay, expenses and allowances since the current Government came to power in March 2011.

A database compiled by the RTÉ Investigations Unit, based on figures provided by the Oireachtas, found that almost 80 current TDs received in excess of that total.

However, the database does not include the extra salaries paid annually to the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, ministers or ministers of state as that money is paid out by their individual departments.

That would bring the total who have received more than €500,000 since 2011 to more than 100.

For example, for the Taoiseach, the extra payment means almost €100,000 on top of his TD’s salary.

When those additional payments are excluded and thanks to his position, current Ceann Comhairle Sean Barrett has received the most in payments, allowances and expenses in the current Dáil term at €658,204.67, according to RTÉ’s figures.

For 2014, for example, the database said he received €65,443.50 in pay, €52,711.47 in allowances and €10,892 in expenses.

Mr Barrett’s deputy, Leas-Cheann Comhairle Michael Kitt is the next biggest recipient at €625,543.51.

As has been well documented, it is TDs who are based outside of Dublin who tend to claim the most in expenses — all but three of the top recipients according to the RTÉ database are from outside Leinster.

RTÉ said the figures it had compiled show that, excluding the extra payments to the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, ministers and junior ministers, “the country’s 166 TDs have been paid €78m, an average of around 470,000 each over the 41-month period for their work, which equates to around €138,000 per year in salary, allowances and expenses”.

The TDs who have received the lowest amounts in the last three years are, in the main, those who have not been in their position for the entire Dáil term.

Socialist Party TD Ruth Coppinger has claimed €35,779 since winning a by-election last May. She is followed by another relative newcomer, Fine Gael’s Gabrielle McFadden on €40,743.

Without their positional additions, Enda Kenny has received just €367,877, though the RTÉ unit pointed out while he and his fellow ministers are allocated a much smaller allowance by authorities at Leinster House, they can claim mileage from their own departments along with additional day-to-day expenses, and are also entitled to claim additional expenses under a secretarial allowance scheme.

The investigations unit also found €19.8m had been paid to senators, on average €330,000 each between March 2011 and July 2014.

Eamonn Maloney, Labour TD for Dublin South West, has claimed no expenses or allowances since he entered the Dáil in 2011.