Oireachtas members can be their own worst enemies. At a time when greater attention than ever is being focused on the financial dealings of politicians, they have failed to reform an antiquated system of Oireachtas allowances and expenses to provide the necessary clarity and transparency.
As a result, the annual publication of large, undifferentiated expense claims by TDs and senators continues to generate a public furore.
This is a job for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission to sort out. In the broader interest of credibility in politics, it should be tackled urgently. Some years ago, the Dáil and Seanad were granted the status of a Government department and given considerable financial independence through the commission, with extensive powers over their own affairs. But, while the commission has sought to improve the facilities and resources available to its members at Leinster House, it has shied away from the difficult and contentious area of unvouched and untaxed expenses and other allowances.
Our 226 Oireachtas members were granted more than €11 million in expenses in 2004, with the top 30 TDs claiming nearly €2.5 million. It was a great deal of money. But, as the chairman of the Oireachtas Finance Committee, Mr Seán Fleming TD, said, it did not reflect an accurate picture of the situation. Much of the money was used to employ staff and to pay for constituency offices, equipment and other overheads. These were charges that, in a normal business, would not be classified as personal expenses. He went on to outline the nature of his own expenditures to make the case.
There is much in what Mr Fleming says. All the more reason, therefore, for the commission to engage in root and branch reform and to modernise a chaotic system of personal allowances and unvouched expenses. Some of these provisions hark back to a time when elected representatives were poorly paid and liberal expenses helped to make up the shortfall. That situation no longer applies.
It would be a considerable advance, in the interests of TDs, if all expenses were placed on a vouched basis and the system of attendance and overnight allowances was circumscribed. Otherwise, a porous scheme can be open to abuse. There should also be a separation between personal expenses and business allowances. Even if that is done, Oireachtas members can expect further public disquiet over plans for a new tier of parliamentary assistants. By permitting an allowance-based option at constituency level, as an alternative to the employment of parliamentary-based assistants, the commission lost its way. There is a better way to pay members of the Oireachtas.