Hard lesson on political expenses
We want it both ways. We want 'ordinary' people in the Oireachtas yet we want them to carry all the risks and the costs of serving us.
Of the individuals you 'outed' and pictured (Irish Examiner, Oct 20), some have had long service and will have earned 'severance pay' and 'pensions.'
Given the high turnover rate, at least two or three, maybe more, of those pictured will lose their seats at the next election and never regain them.
We will forget them but their bank managers will not.
Should they have no guarantee of tenure of their old jobs ? Should they have no financial cushion to cover their costs because they offered themselves to be representatives of the public?
There are unsatisfactory aspects of the substitute system but the subs do have salaries appropriate to their qualifications and can clock up pensionable service, probably after five or six previous years in non-permanent appointments.
The sums you quote are the total differences over up to five or six years and should therefore be divided to get an annual figure.
So the 'gain' to the happy TDs and senators is actually quite small.
Apart from a seven-year spell as a member of Dublin City Council, I ran seven times for the Seanad Eireann was elected twice. According to the book, I served two full terms in the Seanad, but I chose the most unstable period in Irish political history since the Civil War 1981-1983. So my Oireachtas service totals 18 months.
No 'pension.' No 'severance pay.' Also no sympathy. I looked for none because I knew what I was doing and the risks I was taking. (If anybody deserves sympathy it would be my unfortunate wife and family!).
My point here is that no election is financially cost-free for the candidate and I know that from personal experience. Like many others (some of whom fought Dail elections as well), I contested three elections in those two years and spent much longer paying.
Time was when the only people who could contemplate a serious commitment to politics were those with private means. If we look at the last general election, we can see that nobody, not even the most serious heavyweights with huge records of service such as Alan Dukes and Alan Shatter, is safe from the scythe.
We cannot have it both ways. If we want the kind of public representatives we would like to have, we must give them the means to serve us.
The scheme for teachers, which actually offers very little net gain (if any) to the TD or senator, does need review.
If, for example, they have served 20 or even 15 years in Leinster House, they could be phased out of their teaching posts (though the actual figures will not be generous when the sums are done).
But the scheme is legal, up-front and tax-compliant. Ironically, one of the things that I have learnt from nearly 40 years in or around politics is that I am on a hiding to nothing on this point.
After 80 years of independence, we still insist that the men and women whom we elect must be on the make. However, I hope that you will try and set the record right if only to encourage the next generation to 'allow their names to go forward' without being accused of being hucksters.
Maurice O'Connell,
19, Forge Park,
Oakpark,
Tralee,
Co Kerry.
