THE public view of politicians is at an all time low and the average Dail deputy is on a level with lawyers, ambulance chasers and journalists, according to disgruntled TDs. Yesterday, they asked the clerk of the Dail, Mr Kieran Coughlan, to do something about it.
At the Committee of Public Accounts meeting Mr Coughlan presented the figures on the cost of running the Dail, Seanad and European Parliament for 1994. But it was the public relations aspect that interested most TDs there.
Mr Eric Byrne (DL) criticised the "portacabin" entrance to Leinster House at Kildare Street. "You made a saving of £47,000 on the carpets," he told Mr Coughlan, asking why he could not spend that money on improving the "unsavoury nature and environment" of the entrance way.
Mr John Connor (FG) asked Mr Coughlan whether the Dail bar, restaurant and canteen made a profit. Mr Coughlan said it did not and was running at a subsidy of around £310,000, but this was half the loss of a few years ago. Mr Pat Upton (Lab) said he wondered "why we have to go on and on about the bar". It was a dead loss politically, he said. "Any deputy that goes into that place is wasting his time because a vote never changed hands there."
Mr Coughlan told the committee that 74 TDs had offices in their constituencies.
