Louth TDs took home €3m in last four years
LOUTH's four TDs have taken home almost €3 million in wages, expenses and allowances over the past four years, records of their claims reveal.
TDs have basic salaries varying between €100,190 and €106,582, depending on their length of service, while senior ministers such as Dermot Ahern are paid €202,000 per year.
On top of their large salaries, TDs are allowed to claim unvouched expenses and are also entitled to other allowances such as Oireachtas Committee payments.
From 2005-2008 Louth's four TDs, Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern (Fianna Fil), Ceann Comhairle Seamus Kirk (Fianna Fil), Arthur Morgan (Sinn Fin) and Fergus O'Dowd (Fine Gael) received a combined total of almost €3m from taxpayers.
Arthur Morgan (SF) ran up €224,377.83 in expenses over the four year period, the highest amount claimed by all of Louth's TDs, according to figures published on www.thestory.ie and in The Sunday Tribune.
Fergus O'Dowd (FG) claimed the second highest amount (€217,875), followed in third place by Ceann Comhairle Seamus Kirk (FF) who claimed €216,746.73.
"Fine Gael stands by a fully vouched system. What was there during the boom cannot be there during the recession. It can't be there now," said Deputy O'Dowd.
Meanwhile Deputy Kirk, whose salary increased to €212,500 after he was elected Ceann Comhairle, said: "The expenses regime is being looked at by the Minister for Finance and the Oireachtas Committee and there will be change before the end of the year.
"It is expensive running a constituency office but we will have to look at where we can make savings and where we can be more prudent. I will be a strong advocate for that."
Serving ministers tend to have low expenses claims and Minister Ahern (FF) maintained that trend claiming just €95,873.28 in expenses. However, it is thought that many of the costs run up by ministers are subsumed by their departments.
Under the current regime deputies do not have to submit receipts when filing an expenses claim so the money is largely unaccounted for.
However, TDs can claim a constituency telephone allowance, a constituency office grant, a constituency office maintenance allowance and a special secretarial allowance.
TDs can also claim for travel and subsistence and a constituency allowance, which was capped at €8,782.68 in 2008, and a miscellaneous expense allowance which is capped at €5,482.80.
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