THE CYNIC, according to Oscar Wilde, knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Ceann Comhairle John O’Donoghue, in his former role as minister for arts, sport and tourism, was more a spendthrift than a cynic. He knew neither the price nor the value of the sizeable spending that he incurred in the performance of his duties – the water taxis in Venice, the tips to Indian porters. As Mr O’Donoghue has explained in a statement – while regretting some of the high costs incurred in his travel expenses – a minister “would not be apprised of such expenditure at this level of detail either on an ongoing basis or at all in fact”. So when he flew home on the Government jet from the Cannes film festival to attend a constituency event in Kerry, he would not have considered the cost to the taxpayer before choosing the most expensive form of transport.
Mr O’Donoghue’s defence of his acts of wasteful extravagance is wholly inadequate and quite unconvincing. The public deserve a better explanation than he has so far provided on how he spent their money on travel expenses during his five-year tenure as arts minister. His claim, that as Ceann Comhairle he is above politics and controversy and that his current role as the impartial chairman of Dáil Éireann prevents him from clarifying his former position as minister, is not sustainable. No one disputes that he is a successful Ceann Comhairle, one of the best in recent decades. That position, however, does not confer immunity from reasonable parliamentary or media scrutiny where an officeholder’s earlier performance as minister has been called into serious question. In the circumstances, a more detailed statement of explanation by the Ceann Comhairle, accompanied by an apology and evidence of a firmer purpose of amendment was certainly required. And if he had proved more accountable this would have assuaged some of the justifiable public anger on the issue of ministerial expenses, and helped to defuse this embarrassing controversy.
The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission, which is chaired by the Ceann Comhairle, is a statutory body independent of Government. It is responsible for managing the Oireachtas and also sets TDs’ and Senators’ allowances and expenses; most of which are paid to members on an unvouched basis. Politicians of all parties have shown themselves reluctant to change what has been a uniquely favourable tax arrangement for them – which is unavailable to others. The Revenue Commissioners do not accept unvouched expense claims from ordinary taxpayers. Legislators, by writing a different tax code for their own benefit, are operating a double standard, one that is no longer acceptable. The Oireachtas Commission needs to address this issue with some urgency, if politicians in general are to retain their moral authority at a critical time. However, Mr O’Donoghue as chairman, given his inadequate statement of clarification on his own travel expenses, hardly seems best placed to initiate this necessary and long overdue reform: to produce an open, transparent and equitable system of allowances and expenses for Oireachtas members.