Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I wish to return to a theme touched on briefly by Deputy Harris, namely, the difference between an allowance and an expense. Perhaps that is something we should be refining and have in mind with the report. Deputy O'Donnell picked up on the point regarding the equitation school. I apologise as I left briefly. Approximately six months ago I had the privilege of visiting the equitation school at McKee Barracks and seeing what a wonderful facility it is and the work it does. Allowance No. 59 is a special uniform allowance for officers of or attached to the equitation school. This illustrates my point. When I met the officers they were wearing different uniforms because they do different work to the other officers. They are getting paid an allowance but are not benefitting, at least from what I saw, as the allowance goes to purchasing different equipment and uniforms. Is this not part of what we must refine? There is core pay and non-core pay and also the issue of allowances versus expenses, which are fundamentally different?