Politicians' expenses: 53 TDs claim over €50k each for travel and office costs
Cork South-West Independent TD Michael Collins TD claimed €54,000 in expenses last year. TDs who live the far from the Dáil are entitled to more travel expenses than others. Picture: Sam Boal /Rollingnews.ie
A total of 53 TDs claimed in excess of €50,000 in expenses in 2022, as politicians across the board shared €8m in travel and office costs.
Details of the Parliamentary Standard Allowance (PSA) claims have been published by the Houses of the Oireachtas, detailing the amounts claimed in unvouched travel expenses and office costs throughout the year.
The PSA is an annual allowance paid monthly to members of the Oireachtas and is made up of two separate allowances, travel and accommodation (TAA) and public representation allowance (PRA).
The travel allowance is paid to TDs and senators only, while PRA is paid to TDs, senators, and ministers.
For travel, TDs can claim between €9,000 and €34,065 a year in travel and accommodation expenses, depending on the distance between their home and the Dáil. This means the largest claims come from those TDs who live the furthest from the Dáil.
Cork South-West TDs Michael Collins (Independent) and Holly Cairns (Social Democrats) claimed €54,000 and €53,000, respectively, with Kerry's Healy-Rae brothers claiming €53,745 apiece.
Rose Conway Walsh, the Sinn Féin TD for Mayo, claimed just over €53,000.
The TAA payment is based on 120 days' attendance at Leinster House, and members must repay 1% of the allowance for each day fewer than the required number.
TDs and senators may also voluntarily repay any amount of TAA.
A total of €1,650 was repaid under the travel and accommodation allowance on a voluntary basis by People Before Profit TDs Richard Boyd Barrett and Paul Murphy, while the total amount of travel and accommodation allowance refunded was €5,150.18.
The report says that all but 12 members achieved their full attendance in 2022.
While Dublin-based politicians are entitled to claim up to €9,000 a year in travel costs, some do not claim anything.
Sinn Féin's Eoin Ó Broin and senators Fintan Warfield and Lynn Boylan, Social Democrats TD Cian O'Callaghan, and Fianna Fáil's Jim O'Callaghan all declined to make claims under the TAA.
A further 14 TDs and senators waived some part of their allowance.
TDs and senators can also claim the PRA, which entitles TDs to a maximum allowance of €20,350, while a minister can claim €16,000.
Senators get lower amounts and are entitled to the maximum allowance of €12,225 per year. Members who take this allowance must repay any unspent amounts.
The report on the expenses notes that 60 members repaid unspent amounts to the Houses of the Oireachtas Service totalling €112,120.64, while six waived all or part of their allowance.
The PRA is used for office-based costs such as rent, signage, stationery, and leaflets.
Earlier this year, the reported that junior ministers — who are nominally paid up to €159,622 a year — have complained they have to pay to stay in Dublin during the week, compared to TDs who receive allowances to cover the costs.
Under the current rules, overnight allowances are stopped by the Oireachtas when a TD is appointed a junior minister.
Added to this, on foot of a policy agreed by the Cabinet, recent pay rises granted to politicians have been surrendered by ministers, meaning their effective pay is lower.
As a junior minister, they are entitled to two civilian drivers and mileage payable by the State at the civil service rate of 72c a mile for the first 5,500km, and 32c above that.
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