Paul Bradford (Fine Gael)

I would appreciate the Minister obtaining that clarification for me. Every politician in the Oireachtas uses virtually all of their income from politics for political purposes. We need to ensure the public is not misled into believing that a particular category of politicians are working on a reduced salary. As far as I am aware, every one of us is taking the entire salary and spending it on political purposes. There have been many declarations by people that they are working on the minimum wage. However, they are not returning the balance to the taxpayer, they are spending it on political purposes, including offices, phones and secretaries. From 1987 until 2002 I paid my secretary every week, including her tax and PRSI payments. I saw that as part of my political duty. The public needs to be advised that there are not two classes of politicians and that people are using their salaries for political purposes, which I am sure is fine. Some people have said they hand the money over to their parties. I presume that is not legal.