The Government’s latest announcement to reduce the allowance available for communion and confirmation payments has caused quite a ruckus. Tánaiste Eamonn Gilmore says it’s being done to reduce ‘lavish’ expenses. To him it’s about ‘using scarce resources of the public to the best effect.'
When you look at the figures, perhaps we do need to adjust things. Currently there is an allowance of between €200 and €305 available which parents can apply for, to help with the costs of the occasion. The Government want to reduce it to a maximum €110. And last year we spent a whopping €3.4 million on 14,000 communions and confirmations. It’s a sizely sum.
And then you turn the page of the newspaper, and you can 'lavish' your eyes on TDs' expenses. Since the 31st Dail was elected about a year ago, 34 TDs claimed more than €50,000 in expenses. Each. All 34 TDs live outside of Leinster and are entitled to claim a travel and accommodation allowance to cover the cost of travel to and from Leinster House.
I don’t get paid to go to and from work – do you? I don't get a salary in excess of €90,000 a year - do you? Maths is not my strong point, but it’s easy to calculate that 34TDs x €50,000 is €1,700,000. And that’s just for the ones who claimed over €50K. I daren’t even add up the rest of all the claims for all the other TDs. Well all of them except one of course. In the interest of fairness, it should be noted that there is one TD who didn’t claim any expenses at all - Labour TD Eamonn Maloney, a Dublin South West TD. He never has, and he claims that he never will. And for the record, he queries why people would be paid to get to and from work too.
I don't suppose there will be many TDs following the footsteps of Mr Eamonn Maloney. And I'm happy to suck that one up, some things never change. But at the very least, I think we could expect that the Government reduce these ‘lavish’ expenses, after all, it's about ‘using scarce resources of the public to the best effect.'
