POLITICAL parties are due to get an increase of over £1 million in funding for their parliamentary activities under a new Government Bill. There is an added bonus - the money will be retrospective to January 1st this year. TDs and Senators will also be entitled to claim up to £500,000 in backdated expenses.
A total of £1.746 million would be made available annually in allowances to party leaders in Leinster House under the terms of the Oireachtas (Miscellaneous Provisions) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices (Amendment) Bill, 1996.
TDs were intent on passing all stages of the legislation last night in the Dail, so it could go to the Seanad before being signed into law by the President.
The legislation is a by-product of the Supreme Court ruling on political funding in the case brought by the Green Party MEP for Dublin, Ms Patricia McKenna, during the divorce referendum.
Leaders' allowances are generally used to pay secretarial and research staff and were previously confined to parties with seven or more TDs. This resulted in the anomaly whereby the Progressive Democrats, with eight TDs, received £149,640, whereas Democratic Left, with six TDs, was given nothing.
Now the scheme is to be expanded to include all Leinster House parties and independents. Funding for parties in Government is cut by a third on the basis that they already have the assistance of programme managers, special advisers and civil servants.
The new rates are as follows (previous amounts in brackets):
. Fianna Fail £710,000 (£301,197)
. Fine Gael £397,000 (£106,377)
. Labour £297,000 (£45,755)
. Progressive Democrats £205,000 (£149,640)
. Democratic Left £97,000 (Zero)
. Green Party £25,000 (Zero)
. Independents £30,000 (Zero)
. Total: £1,746,000 (Previous total: £602,929)
Provision had already been made in the Budget for the payment of £500,000 to TDs and Senators to cover changes in telephone allowances and additional overnight expenses. The rules for claiming overnight expenses have also been relaxed.
The overnight allowance is £58.48 provided the member's residence is more than 20 miles from Leinster House. If the member lives within a 20-mile radius of the parliament building a daily allowance of £26.40 applies on days the house is sitting.
The Bill also places the employment of TDs' and Senators' secretaries on a proper legislative basis and ensures that members are indemnified against claims for damages by their secretaries.
The leaders' allowances are allocated on a declining pro-rata basis according to the number of Oireachtas members elected for each party. Thus £25,000 each is paid annually for the first five members; £20,000 each for the next five; £10,000 each in respect of more than 10 but fewer than 50 members; £5,000 each in respect of more than 50 members.
Since it was the prime beneficiary, it was unlikely Fianna Fail would obstruct the Bill's passage. "We're not looking a gift horse in the mouth," a senior member said.
At present, TDs are paid an annual salary of £34,362; Senators get £21,763. They also receive mileage payments and constituency travel allowances. If a TD chooses to set up a constituency office there is a start-up grant of about £5,000.
These are in addition to telephone allowances of up to £2,000 annually for TDs and £1,000 for senators.
The Minister for Finance, Mr Quinn, defended the rise in leaders' allowances in an RTE interview as "a very necessary increase".
But the Green MEP, Ms Patricia McKenna, told The Irish Times: "It's incredible that the Cabinet can rush through legislation like this coming up to Christmas considering that, for example, we are still waiting after years of promises for much-needed anti-discrimination laws."
A spokeswoman for the Progressive Democrats said: "We are drawing a sharp distinction between funding of parliamentary activities and State finance for election campaigns."