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

A consequence of that has been the proliferation of allowances. For example, in the Irish Prison Service alone there are 64 allowances. Within our Defence Forces, there are 63 allowances which are separate and bespoke to those two units of our public service. While I understand and accept Mr. Cody's point that in many cases an allowance was the most cost-effective and straightforward way of dealing with a particular claim within a particular sector, when all the sectors are put together, there are 1,100 of them in total. Of those 1,100, if one strips out the equivalent of the top four across every arm of our public service, as Ms Nunan mentioned, there are still hundreds that are low in value and claimed by few. However, when put together there are a gigantic number of them.