Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

There is an extra cost there that has not been adequately or fully taken into account and I am a bit surprised that we do not know how many Deputies are involved.

I have been listening to the figures in respect of the public representation allowance. There are two ways of looking at the fully vouched one. Obviously, the fully vouched one subject to authentication is the most expensive one for the taxpayer. That allowance is €25,700 versus the unvouched allowance of €15,000. That is a difference of €10,700. It is more expensive for the taxpayer where we put in the vouched receipts and less expensive if we go the unvouched route. I understand there has been much criticism here today about unvouched expenses but could Mr. Coughlan put the following figure into the mix? Mr. Coughlan said earlier that 39 Deputies claimed the lower, unvouched amount. If those 39 Deputies claimed the full amount, the extra €10,700, it would be an extra cost of €612,300 to the taxpayer. If the 12 Ministers who are claiming the smaller amount claimed the maximum vouched amount, it would be an extra cost of €96,000 to taxpayer. If the 44 Senators claimed the maximum vouched amount as opposed to the less expensive unvouched amount, it would be an extra cost of €253,000. Moving from the unvouched and less expensive cost to the taxpayer would cost an extra €961,300 to vouch.