The Government last night announced a radical overhaul of the allowance and expenses for TDs and Senators following months of public criticism over the size and unvouched nature of such payments.
Under the new system, a raft of allowances payable to members of the Oireachtas each year – including mileage, overnight accommodation, office and constituency expenses – will be replaced by a single parliamentary allowance made up of two block payments: one for travel and accommodation; the second a “public representative allowance”.
And for the first time, Dáil deputies and Senators will have to “clock in” to prove their attendance at Leinster House.
They will have to verify that they attend for 80 per cent of sitting days, which works out at 120 days for a TD, each year to qualify for a full allowance.
For each day missed, the member will be docked 1 per cent of the allowance.
The travel and accommodation allowance will range from €12,000 per annum for Dublin deputies to €37,850 for those living 360km or more from Leinster House. Those qualifying for the highest amount would be confined to a number of deputies living in west Cork, west Kerry and Donegal.
Senators will be paid a reduced amount as there are no payments for constituency travel.
The amounts will vary from €7,000 each year for Dublin-based Senators to €32,850 for those 360km or more from Leinster House.
Attendance for 80 per cent of sitting days will have to be verified by TDs and Senators to qualify for the full amount.
The second allowance will allow TDs to receive an unvouched amount of €15,000 per annum or a fully vouched amount of €25,700.
This is paid towards meeting the costs of constituency office expenses including mobile telephones, home telephones, advertising, publishing of leaflets and room hire. Any TD who exceeds the €15,000 threshold will have to provide receipts for the entire amount.
The Department of Finance agreed the new regime with the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, saying it was a radical reform replacing over 40 years of legislation.
A spokesman said the new regime will, at the very minimum, be cost neutral and cost no more than the previous regime. He said that if most TDs keep to the €15,000 figure for constituency expenses further savings will be made.
The basic salary of a TD is €92,672 per annum. The maximum amount payable in allowances under the new system will be €63,550.
That will be confined to a handful of TDs living 360km or more from the Dáil and claiming €25,700 in vouched constituency office expenses.
Last year, under pressure from the Department of Finance, the Oireachtas commission agreed to reduce mileage payments by 25 per cent and all other expenses, including phone allowances, overnight accommodation, and stationery expenses by an average of 10 per cent.
The new annual block payments will reflect those reductions. There was also reluctance from a cohort of TDs to accept any form of attendance verification. But their objections were overcome by the insistence of the department and of Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan.
Commenting, Fine Gael frontbencher Dr James Reilly said he had "absolutely no problem with people knowing that you've come to the Dáil when you're here - you're a public representative".
"I will emphasise, however, that just because you're not in here doesn't mean you're not working on behalf of people in your constituency.
"The bottom line is, though, that people need more transparency, and I've absolutely no issue with that," the health spokesman told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
Speaking on the same programme, Labour senator Dominic Hannigan said the new expense system was "a significant improvement" on the previous regime.
"I think it is much more transparent, I think it will help to restore confidence on the part of the public, who, after all, are paying our wages, and it will probably, hopefully, lead to a reduction to the amount that the taxpayer has to pay toward expenses," said Mr Hannigan, who served on the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission's audit committee.
He said the signing-on procedure to register attendance at Leinster was not onerous, adding: "I can't see why anybody would have a problem with it."
Green Party TD Paul Gogarty also welcomed the new arrangements, but he called for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission to use the existing swipe system - introduced on a pilot scheme for staff in Leinster House.
"For years TDs have been claiming expenses based on trust, but because of other factors that trust has broken down. Electronic verification would help to increase public confidence that the system is working properly," he said.
Mr Gogarty added he saw no merit in allowing up to €15,000 of expenses to be unvouched. "Every cent should be vouched. We need to send out the right signals to the public that we are accountable for any expense we incur."