# Expenses of Dail Deputies.



## dewdrop (31 May 2010)

Because of the high profile resignation in the UK i notice that detailed data on all expenses of MPs are available on the web. Is such information available here in this country?


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## Green (31 May 2010)

No, I dont think so. I believe that the papers request it quarterly via FOI requests.


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## dewdrop (1 Jun 2010)

Just heard on RTE radio that some of this data will be online today.


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## Green (1 Jun 2010)

dewdrop said:


> Just heard on RTE radio that some of this data will be online today.


 
Link below. 

http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=15094&&CatID=169


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## Howitzer (1 Jun 2010)

YOBR said:


> Link below.
> 
> http://www.oireachtas.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=15094&&CatID=169


The figures are of no use. They simply provide a total without giving any indication as to to what they are for. Many TDs and Senators have the exact same expense claims down to the cent.


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## elefantfresh (1 Jun 2010)

Yes, i wonder what the rates are? So many have the exact same expenses.


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## dewdrop (2 Jun 2010)

Wondering why such media coverage when both allowances are capped.


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## Mpsox (2 Jun 2010)

you can always try and make some money on this if you want to yourself

http://www.liveoddsandscores.com/news/press-releases/429102/political-expenses-betting-launched


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## NOAH (2 Jun 2010)

Its a bit disappointing in this day and age that the term UNVOUCHED expenses terms are used when it means " no receipts". Is this legal?   A public representative should be clear and unambiguous with no room for .....

Are these expenses tax free????


noah


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## z104 (3 Jun 2010)

I'm sure my unvouched expenses will be acceptable to the tax man when I make my tax return in October.


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## z107 (4 Jun 2010)

It seems obvious to me that the whole politician expenses thing needs to be scrapped. Irish politicians simply can not be trusted.

'Unvouched' expenses need to be axed now!

We really need to fight back against the government. They truly are our enemy.


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## notagardener (4 Jun 2010)

umop3p!sdn said:


> It seems obvious to me that the whole politician expenses thing needs to be scrapped. Irish politicians simply can not be trusted.
> 
> 'Unvouched' expenses need to be axed now!
> 
> We really need to fight back against the government. They truly are our enemy.


 
Not just the goverment - all of them, but as always we just sit back and take it, discuss it in pubs and forums (me included )

Maybe our pensioners can take the lead again and show us how to protest and stop letting them get away with it - robbing our money, embezzling money from the state. Sackable offence in the world outside of politics


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## ninsaga (4 Jun 2010)

Dear Brian Cowen...

Could Ivor Callely's situation be deemed as fraud - ie claiming for expenses that were not valid & subsequently get charged. If that happened where I work, you'd be fired without getting any state pension!
Its time the gubberment gets serious on this once and for all and stop trying to patch it up. If you take something that you shouldn't have & start bending the rules then you are out straight away - no question!

All elected councillors/TD's senators credibility are at stake here. Sort out the mess & get rid of the free loading gangsters who deem it a right to pocket the tax payers money fraudulently.


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## AgathaC (4 Jun 2010)

ninsaga said:


> Dear Brian Cowen...
> 
> Could Ivor Callely's situation be deemed as fraud - ie claiming for expenses that were not valid & subsequently get charged. If that happened where I work, you'd be fired without getting any state pension!
> Its time the gubberment gets serious on this once and for all and stop trying to patch it up. If you take something that you shouldn't have & start bending the rules then you are out straight away - no question!
> ...


+1. At a minimum, he should have to repay the expenses including the mileage claimed from his holiday home address.


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## ninsaga (5 Jun 2010)

Wel Callely has resigned - now what exactly does that mean folks - does he still sit in the Seanad and get a pension? Is he going to be forced to repay - or does the fact that he 'resigned' now make it ok and now Fianna Fail can 'bury' this ?


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## Purple (8 Jun 2010)

Resigning and/or retiring is the ultimate get out of jail free card in Ireland. It can be used by senior bankers, politicians, civil servants or state appointees. Once they retire or resign all previous transgressions are forgiven. It’s the secular version of going to confession. 

If they are smart and retire before they have to resign they get to keep their pensions and golden handshakes. 

The reason for this is simple; the government is not interested in justice and honesty, they simply want the problem to go away and they know that out of sight is out of mind.

I don’t know why anyone is surprised and please don’t think this is just a Fianna Fail issue, it applies across every facet of the state.


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## Sunny (8 Jun 2010)

Purple said:


> Resigning and/or retiring is the ultimate get out of jail free card in Ireland. It can be used by senior bankers, politicians, civil servants or state appointees. Once they retire or resign all previous transgressions are forgiven. It’s the secular version of going to confession.
> 
> If they are smart and retire before they have to resign they get to keep their pensions and golden handshakes.
> 
> ...


 
Fully agree. There should be a investigation by the fraud squad. If I fiddled my expenses in work, I wouldn't be able to just resign. I would be sacked and probably reported to the guards. Seems to me that people at the top resign, everyone else gets sacked.


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## cork (8 Jun 2010)

Concillors, public servants, TDs, senetors etc all claim expenses.

Why cannot you access how public money is being spent in this country without FOIs?


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## sam h (8 Jun 2010)

The attitude to expenses within the PS seems to be one of entitlement.

I worked for the CSO one year & I was submitting my expenses.  I was out for about 5 hours one day which would mean I was entitled to subsistance (from recollection about €13....rediculous amount for a lunch) for being over 4 hours.  But I had gone home and had a sambo so I didn't claim.  My manager insisted I submit it or "I'd be ruining it for everyone"?!?!?!

If a fraud has been commited they should definately have to repay and face charges


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## csirl (8 Jun 2010)

sam h said:


> The attitude to expenses within the PS seems to be one of entitlement.
> 
> I worked for the CSO one year & I was submitting my expenses. I was out for about 5 hours one day which would mean I was entitled to subsistance (from recollection about €13....rediculous amount for a lunch) for being over 4 hours. But I had gone home and had a sambo so I didn't claim. My manager insisted I submit it or "I'd be ruining it for everyone"?!?!?!
> 
> If a fraud has been commited they should definately have to repay and face charges


 
I worked for a Government Dept in the late 90s and I'd have to say that my experience was very different to the above. It was always instilled into you that expenses claims are always on the basis that additional expenditure was actually incurred. You would not be allowed to claim for a lunch just by being out of the office for 5 hours or for any expenses at all for anything within the greater Dublin area (or whatever locality you lived/worked in). There would be many times when, by the strict interpretation of the CS rules (same as Revenue rules) you may be entitled to expenses, but the vast majority of people wouldnt feel right making a claim if they weren't out of pocket.


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## sam h (8 Jun 2010)

> but the vast majority of people wouldnt feel right making a claim if they weren't out of pocket.


 
Thats good to hear....as it should be.


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## Moral Ethos (8 Jun 2010)

I have worked in the civil service and in semi state bodies. If you had to travel to a neighbouring district you got £12 for a lunch, no receipts needed. If you had to work beyond 7pm you were entitled to £14 for your dinner, again no receipts needed. People came to rely on these payments as part of their wages and woe betide anyone who did not claim them. I forgot one week to claim and the boss filled them in anyways.


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## Leper (8 Jun 2010)

€80,000 to travel from one part of Dublin to the other.  Even if the senate sat for 52 weeks of the year this would amount to €1600 approx per week.  Should Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) be called in?


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## Moral Ethos (8 Jun 2010)

It must be a very expensive taxi.


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## carpedeum (8 Jun 2010)

I was wondering why the other parties have been relatively quiet over Ivor. Look at the excerpt below from yesterday's Sunday Tribune. These guys are really taking the p***. It is madness that anybody is paid extra on top of their salaries just to go to work! These guys have been in cohoots together across all party lines to maximize earnings. The electorate should boot them out at the next election. 

"Dublin-based Fine Gael health spokesman James Reilly claimed more than €32,000 – an average of €1,800 a month – for travel and subsistence despite having a home in Rush, just 18 miles from Dáil Éireann."

http://www.tribune.ie/news/article/2010/jun/06/fg-td-claims-32k-for-18-mile-journeys-to-dail/

Entitlement doesn't make it morally right, merited or right.

Absolute madness!


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## NOAH (21 Jun 2010)

We should not give up on this, The article in yesterdays Mail on Sunday about what ex taoisighs claim was sickening and yet we are expected to make sacrifices to get the country out of the mess they made of it. You would think they had some shame but not a bit.


noah


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## Lak (22 Jun 2010)

I suspect that their cars run on rocket fuel, they only eat Lobster Thermadore and Caviar and the mobile phones must be on the most expensive pay as you go Tariff how else could the grotesque sums claimed be explained ?


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## NOAH (22 Jun 2010)

exactly my thoughts, how they ever had the brass neck to dream up these schemes is beyond me. 

We could save the country a fortune by getting rid of these perks.

noah


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## ninsaga (27 Jun 2010)

So now its revealed that Callely claimed overnight expenses while he stayed at his house in Dublin! This is pure fraud! Why is he not being charged for for defrauding? Why is he not being dismissed without any pension. Try that in ANY private sector job & you are fired - maybe even charged if the company wants to make an example of you.

Why are our gubber_mint_ ministers untouchable!!!!

I am furious. Come one bring on any local election and let them come calling to my door for their vote now!


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## NOAH (27 Jun 2010)

its called a gravy train and carriage by carriage it's hitting the buffers. Let's hope the press here "KEEPS THE PRESSURE ON" .

noah


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## ninsaga (27 Jun 2010)

And thats fine - but why are they not being charged for fraud - because that is exactly what it is!


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## Moral Ethos (27 Jun 2010)

Someone needs to make a complaint to the Gardaí first.


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## ninsaga (12 Jul 2010)

And now I'm really peeved at this. Callely really screwed us here......and of course I suspect he was not the only on either.....

article from this mornings Examiner


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## NOAH (31 Jul 2010)

we should not let this drop, has he repaid???

noah


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## D8Lady (1 Aug 2010)

Daily Mail story today makes for very interesting reading, with documents to back up the claims being made. 

This should not be allowed to drop.


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## D8Lady (2 Aug 2010)

*Callely faces call to quit Seanad over new claims*

Its in today's Irish Times as well. Callely is accused of claiming expenses using forged invoices.


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## D8Lady (3 Aug 2010)

*FF suspend Callely over expense allegations*

[broken link removed]
"Fianna Fáil has tonight suspended Senator Ivor Callely pending an  internal investigation.
The party said it had reviewed “certain  matters in the public domain concerning Senator Callely” and “agreed  that this information establishes a possible prima facie case of conduct  unbecoming a member of the Fianna Fáil organisation”.

Mr Callely, who resigned the Fianna Fáil whip in June, claimed almost  €3,000 from the Oireachtas for the purchase of mobile phones and related  services from a company which the Companies Registration Office records  show had ceased trading.

He was last month deemed to have misrepresented his normal place of  residence for the purposes of claiming expenses by the Committee on  Members’ Interests of Seanad Éireann."


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