MINISTER FOR Finance Brian Lenihan has written to the authorities that run Leinster House saying he wants to see the expenses of TDs and Senators reduced significantly as soon as possible.
In his letter, the Minister emphasised the need for elected politicians to give the lead in implementing savings at a time when everybody is being asked to make sacrifices in the national interest. He was responding to a decision of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, which runs the Houses of Parliament, to make the systems of expenses for TDs and Senators more transparent.
However, the new system proposed by the all-party commission, chaired by Ceann Comhairle John O’Donoghue, does not involve a reduction in the overall amount paid out to politicians under the current expenses regime.
Under the system proposed by the commission, the current arrangements, involving overnight allowances, mileage, constituency travel and daily attendance rates, would be rationalised into one coherent system, but there would be no overall reduction in the cost.
Mr Lenihan made it clear in his letter he wants to see savings this year in the amount paid out in expenses and allowances and in the cost of foreign travel by TDs and Senators. He referred back to comments he made two weeks ago in a Dáil debate about the Government’s plan to save €2 billion on the public spending bill this year.
“The Government is determined that it and the Oireachtas plays their part in reducing the cost of our democratic and political systems,” said Mr Lenihan in that debate.
“We aim to achieve substantial savings in 2009 through a range of changes in Government and Oireachtas funding. The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission will be asked to contribute to this process and we invite the co-operation of all political parties and Independents to show clear political leadership across the political system.
“In this context the approach to foreign visits of Oireachtas committees, the funding of the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission and the system for expenses and allowances will be considered. The costs of the offices of Ministers and Ministers of State will also be reviewed,” said Mr Lenihan.
During the same debate, the Fianna Fáil backbench TD, Ned O’Keeffe, sharply criticised the cost of the Oireachtas commission. He described the commission, which has a budget this year of €137 million, as a “monopoly and monster”.
The Green Party leader and Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, also criticised the all-party commission for its proposed new expenses regime which he said merely “tinkers at the edges of the significant spending reforms needed in the Oireachtas”.
He said that those in Leinster House must show political leadership. “I do not believe that last month’s expenses reform proposals from the all-party Oireachtas Commission are nearly sufficient to show that leadership,” said Mr Gormley.
During the debate, Mr Lenihan made the point that he could by legislation vary the expenses of TDs and Senators, but the constitutional convention was that he could only do so after hearing the views of the commission.
