Callely expense claims cause intense anger

REPORTS that Senator Ivor Callely has been paid more than €80,000 since 2007 in respect of travel expenses from an address in west Cork to Leinster House is a further example of the greedy behaviour that vexes voters so intensely that it cost Peter Robinson and many other outgoing MPs their parliamentary seats in the recent British general election.

The Oireachtas website lists Callely’s home address as being on St Lawrence Road, Clontarf, Dublin. The public telephone directory lists his telephone number at this address.

His name is also listed on the current register of electors at this address, which is within walking distance of Leinster House.

Callely’s political website states that he maintains a constituency office address on Howth Road and he confirms that he lives in the Dáil constituency of Dublin North-Central. Cork is not mentioned in any context.

How could taxpayers accept these expenses as being reasonable?

The system of politicians’ expenses must not be exploited for personal financial advantage and there ought to be effective and proportionate sanctions for breaches of rules robustly enforced and administered independently of politicians. It should also provide value for taxpayers that is not necessarily judged by reference to financial costs alone.

Will Senator Callely promptly and voluntarily repay this €80,000 which, it would seem, should never have been paid had the controls of the Oireachtas Commission been sufficiently robust and vigilant, or will the commission be obliged to engage in an adversarial protracted process to extract repayment from him?

The operating cost of our 226-member Dáil and Seanad was almost €153 million in 2008. The salaries and expenses of 650 members of the Westminster parliament for the same period was slightly over €197m. If the Oireachtas Commission fails to rectify this matter, then presumably a precedent is set whereby each member of the Oireachtas and every public sector worker can acquire an accommodation address as remote from Dublin, or the location of their employment, as possible for the purpose of maximising the amount of money that can be gouged from the public purse.

This might have the effect of repopulating the islands from Tory to Cape Clear but it would also leave the bondholders who pay the day-to-day expenses of running the country incandescent, perplexed and likely to confuse Ireland with Greece.

Myles Duffy

Bellevue Ave

Glenageary

Co Dublin