TDs defend €1,200 extra expenses on foreign trip

Two TDs who each claimed over €1,200 after hotel, dinner, and breakfast costs were deducted during a five-day trip to Switzerland, have defended the spending levels, saying Oireachtas rules allow them to receive the money.

Fine Gael TD Tom Neville and Fianna Fáil TD Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher, who is also the Dáil’s leas ceann comhairle, rejected criticism of the costs after it emerged they each claimed €214 a day in extra expenses during the April trip to Geneva.