Politics

Leinster House fobs for expenses lost or broken 148 times by TD and Senators

Politicians need to ‘clock in’ with fobs 120 days a year to claim travel and accommodation expenses but no requirement to clock out

Ninety-two TDs and 56 Senators had reported their fob missing or out of order over the past four years. Photograph: Bryan O'Brien/The Irish Times
Ninety-two TDs and 56 Senators had reported their fob missing or out of order over the past four years. Photograph: Bryan O'Brien/The Irish Times
Ken Foxe
Wed Oct 09 2024 - 14:29

TDs and Senators have lost or broken nearly 150 of the fobs they use to clock in to get paid their full travel and accommodation expenses.

The Oireachtas said 92 TDs and 56 Senators had reported their fob missing or out of order over the past four years.

Under the system for claiming travel and accommodation expenses, politicians need to “clock in” 120 days each year.

However, unlike clock-in systems that apply in all other professional scenarios, there is no requirement to clock out.

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Payments under the controversial expenses system range between €9,000 and €34,000 for TDs and from €5,250 to €29,565 for Senators depending on the distance they live from Leinster House.

TDs and Senators are paid the full allowance if they hit the 120-day target and must make small repayments if they do not.

However, Freedom of Information records show that no further checks on attendance have been made to ensure fobs are not being used by colleagues or staff since a CCTV network was installed in Leinster House.

When asked how often the camera system was used to validate expenses claims, the Oireachtas said: “The record concerned does not exist or cannot be found after all reasonable steps to ascertain its whereabouts have been taken.”

They did, however, confirm that TDs or Senators could only ever have one “active” key fob assigned to them at any time.

So, when an old fob was lost or broken, it would be deactivated before the new one was issued for use.

Of the 148 occasions when there were problems since 2021, 118 of the devices had vanished although some later turned up.

Another 30 were either damaged or no longer operated correctly, according to databases supplied by the Oireachtas.

Asked about the lost and damaged key fobs, an Oireachtas spokeswoman said: “The last time we purchased fobs was in 2019 in preparation for the 2020 election at a cost of approximately €7 per fob.

“Fobs that are reported lost [or] broken are replaced and [it is] important to note that there is only one fob per member active at any given time. Fobs that are subsequently found are reusable and can be reassigned.”