REARVIEW:The latest instalment of the expenses scandal got us thinking about the whole issue of travel and subsistence allowance. We decided that the debate was missing the point completely and were surprised Ivor "The Driver" Callely didn't notice a better way of calculating travel expenses.
According to the Oireachtas website, the travel and accommodation allowance (TAA) is calculated based on the distance from Leinster House, so the further a TD’s home is from Dublin to more he or she gets. Those living in Dublin or less than 25km from it receive a TAA of €12,000, while those who live 360km or more away get €37,850 per annum. The only “catch” is that you must turn up for work on at least 120 days.
However, surely the concept of allowance-calculation based on distance from Dublin is outmoded, given the huge advances we have made in infrastructure and transport in recent years. A fairer concept might be to rate each constituency based on the ease of access to Dublin, rather than the crude measure of only distance. Should a deputy from Galway get a bigger allowance than a colleague from Donegal given the huge transport infrastructure differences between the regions?
A deputy in Dublin could cycle to and from the Dáil, well below the cost of €12,000 per annum. A deputy in Cork, for example, has many options that, again, would represent a saving for the taxpayer. Ryanair was charging €51.71 return from Cork to Dublin today, while Irish Rail runs trains almost hourly from Cork to Dublin Heuston with a taxsaver commuter annual ticket costing a mere €1,734.