Tom Enright, Defended his claims for expenses
TD's and Senators have been defending their expenses claims following the publication of their expenses league tables this morning. Eleven TD's claimed more than £40,000 in expenses, and a total of 23 TD's claimed sums higher than their actual salary.
The largest claimant is Fine Gael Laois/Offaly TD Tom Enright who claimed almost £45,000. Next were Fianna Fail's Eddie Wade of Limerick with £44,778, then Cork's Batt O'Keefe of Fianna Fail; £44227; Sean Doherty; £42,915; and Fine Gael's Enda Kenny from Mayo with £42,539.
Mr Enright responded by saying that £9000 of his expenses were arrears from the previous year and he is a member of the Council of Europe which requires a great deal of foreign travel. He said that his expenses were entirely legitimate and he believed that the public in electing him were getting good value for money.
Another large beneficiary is Cork Fianna Fail TD Noel O'Flynn who received almost £39,000 in expenses in the year to April. He said that he makes no profit on those expenses and that he would open his computer records to anyone for scrutiny.
Ministers occupy the bottom placings in the league table because they get separate Departmental expenses, but the most 'cost effective' TD's are Joe Higgins of the Socialist party at £13,580 followed by Sean Ryan, Roisin Shortall, Alan Dukes, Pat Rabbitte and Mary Hanafin.
Over half of Senators claimed expenses higher than their actual salaries. Fianna Fail Senator Rory Kiely received nearly £42,000, almost twice his salary in expenses. However he said that his membership of the Council of Europe accounted for a large portion of this.
The Oireachtas press office has reacted angrily to what it sees as prurient interest in its members earnings. They claim a study of expenses shows that many TD's actually lose money on being a TD. They also point out that expenses claims could include backdated expenses.
Commenting on the figures, The SIPTU President Jimmy Somers said that the expenses claims will send the wrong signals to PAYE workers. He maintained that the figures, as well as TD's demands for a pay increase, would heighten workers' expectations in their discussions with the Government about a successor to Partnership 2000.
