A NUMBER of TDs and Senators have continued to give pre-paid Oireachtas envelopes to candidates in the local and European elections despite being warned not to do so, the State’s ethics watchdog has said.
The Standards in Public Office Commission yesterday said that it was entirely inappropriate for members to pass the envelopes and other Oireachtas facilities on to election candidates – for personal, electoral or party political gain.
These allowances were provided at the public expense, the commission said. The total cost to the taxpayer is approximately €2.7 million each year.
The commission said it was “disappointed” that both the Dáil and Seanad had rejected a proposal to bar-code envelopes so they could be traced back to the TD or Senator to whom they were issued.
The Dáil Committee on Procedure and Privileges had initially agreed to the bar code but the Seanad committee would not agree. The Dáil committee subsequently reversed its decision and Oireachtas envelopes are no longer bar coded.
In a statement issued yesterday, the commission said its chairman Mr Justice Matthew Smith had written to the Taoiseach to draw to his attention its concern about the matter.
The body also said it was disappointed that it continued “to receive inquiries from concerned members of the public about this inappropriate use of Oireachtas facilities by persons who are not members of the Oireachtas”.
TDs and Senators receive 1,750 pre-paid envelopes per month per member, a facility that is worth €11,500 to each of the 220 Oireachtas members each year.
A spokesman for Fianna Fáil said the party would remind its members that Oireachtas facilities should only be for Oireachtas members. A spokesman for Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny said clear guidelines were in place and he expected TDs and Senators to adhere to those.
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore said he would be issuing a “diktat” on the matter to his parliamentary party and that he considered the situation to be a serious one. Senator Camillus Glynn of Fianna Fáil, a member of the Seanad committee, yesterday outlined why the committee had decided against bar codes.
“Bar codes were not in vogue when I became a member of the committee and the view of the committee was they would continue with no bar code. I know there is concern about the use of Oireachtas envelopes. While there might have been some, I’m not so sure there is any misuse of them now,” he said.
Mr Glynn said that the envelopes were of huge use to him as he maintained a constituency office in Mullingar, Co Westmeath.
The commission also reminded candidates and parties that those who received envelopes to the value of €635 or more from a TD or senator were required to disclose the donation as well as the donor in their compulsory donation statements.
