Stop the expenses gravy train

The news that TDs have been paid another staggering amount in expenses — about €6m — should come as no surprise to an electorate that has become wearyingly accustomed to paying other people’s bills.

Not content with trousering one of the largest pay packets among their peer groups in Europe our TDs continue to utilise a — quite literally obscene expenses regime which allows them to claim up to €15,000 unvouched from the public purse. If utilised by all 166 TDs the amount claimed in such undocumented payments would run to €2,490,000 annually which Irish citizens have no opportunity to scrutinise or inspect for probity or scale.

Why should TDs and senators have the right to claim substantial monies from the public purse without providing supporting documentation? Why do they seemingly need additional remuneration to take up committee chairmanships? Do they have to be provided with this extra monetary incentive simply to carry out duties which the rest of us in the public sector perform as part of our day to day workload? It is to be hoped that the review into members’ allowances being conducted by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform will at the very least put an end to this outmoded and completely inappropriate regime of unvouched expenses. Every member of the Oireachtas should be compelled to publish an online account of their (fully vouched) expense claims on a monthly basis. Given the scale of cuts foisted on lower paid employees in the public and private sectors it is unacceptable for the Oireachtas to go on living in an alternative universe characterised by inflated pay scales and the submission of expenses without receipts. This has to end if the Oireachtas is to have any credibility in seeking to persuade Irish citizens of the long-term virtue of austerity.