TAOISEACH ENDA Kenny has supported the position of the Houses of the Oireachtas on parliamentary expenses, saying the rules clearly referred to TDs travelling within their constituencies.
Mr Kenny said the rules for TD expenses applied to use within their own constituency.
When asked about Minister of State at the Department of Finance Brian Hayes, who said he had used his allowance in opposition to travel outside Dublin in his capacity as Fine Gael education spokesman, Mr Kenny replied that he had not read the papers.
The Taoiseach, speaking yesterday at the Volvo Ocean Race festival in Galway, said “the position is very clear by the Oireachtas [Service] in relation to what expenses are to be used for. Years ago, I am not sure if it still applies, if a minister or an official unit were to invite a member of a committee to attend an official function in another constituency, provided the member turned up and was proven to be there, they were able to claim travel expenses.”
He added: “Clearly the rules are that the expenses allowable are for the Oireachtas members used within their constituency.”
It came as Oireachtas sources said the most senior officials within the service were concerned that strict rules on parliamentary travel had been interpreted with a degree of ambiguity. “There’s a potential misunderstanding that seems to be there. But the Oireachtas Service is concerned that parliamentary funding could be diverted to cover activities for which it was never intended.”
The source said there was a distinction between party political funding and parliamentary funding. Parliamentary funding was intended to cover the expense of TDs in running an office and travelling to and from Leinster House, and within their own constituencies.
Funding for the activities described by Mr Hayes, by Joe Higgins and Clare Daly of the Socialist Party and by Joan Collins of People before Profit should all come from funds given to parties by the State to cover political activity. According to the source, the combined amount given last year in purely political funding under the Electoral Acts, the Party Leader’s Allowance, and secretarial allowances amounted to €21 million. Mr Higgins, Ms Daly and Ms Collins said they used their Dublin-based TD allowance to attend anti-household tax and anti-water charges meetings nationwide. Mr Higgins has said he will refund €935 spent visiting 22 counties and travelling more than 6,000km, if his use of that fund was inappropriate.
