Expense receipts need to be submitted

ACCORDING to the Oireachtas website, in October the average monthly expenses claimed by 15 TDs who have so far expressed their intention to not pay the household charge is €3,595, ranging from a low of €1,000 to the astounding €5,107.84 claimed by Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty.

This is on top of their salaries.

Not one of these people provide the receipts to prove their expenses are legitimate, nor do any of them provide audited accounts of how they funded their campaigns or proof of where they transfer the rest of their income and expense claims after apparently paying themselves the average industrial wage.

The gullibility of the Irish people never ceases to amaze when you think how easily they are fooled by 15 TDs who will make a stand over a €100 charge but who have done nothing to minimise the burden they place on the taxpayer.

Next time a TD tells you they’ll go to jail and will not pay the household charge, thereby adding more cost to the taxpayer by their court and jail visit, ask them to publish expense receipts.

Desmond FitzGerald

Canary Wharf

London

England