Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

17. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if he will provide, in tabular form, the expenses incurred by him between 2011 and to date in 2015, to include the date, expense type, description and amount; if each expense was vouched; his plans to introduce changes to the expenses system to ensure all expenses are fully vouched for; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26123/15]

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

As láthair, ach tá mise anseo. It is due to the late sitting.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Anseo.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My question refers to the thorny issue of ministerial expenses. When I drafted the question, it was to refer to each Minister, but it appears that it is now focused entirely on the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

That was not my intention, but, nonetheless, that is how the question is phrased. It asks the Minister if he will provide, in tabular form, the expenses incurred by him between 2011 and to date in 2015. It is not directed at him personally or in particular. I raise it because there has been for the umpteenth time public unease and concern about ministerial expenses. I, therefore, thought it worthy of airing it today.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The data are contained in the following table.

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform: Expenses 2011 - 1 July 2015

I should be relieved that the question was not focused entirely on me. If the Deputy did couch it in such a way that it referred to each line Minister, she would have had to table a question to each of them.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Perhaps that is what happened.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

That is what happened; it was sent to every Minister, as I would not have access to data for expenses. I have set out data for every cent I have spent and claimed since I entered office in March 2011. The Deputy has referred to there being unease and disquiet, but there is nothing in the tabular statement that has not been aggregated, published and republished a multiplicity of times under freedom of information legislation. No doubt, I will read them again in a reaggregated and republished form, no doubt multiplied by ten, to show what they would look like if I were to be in office for ten years.

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Will people have to suffer that long - ten years?

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My goodness, I thought the Deputy would welcome such things. Short of reading the long list of every European Council meeting I have attended and trade mission I have been on, I will give all of the information to the Deputy and hope it will satisfy her. She will also have everybody else's data to compare and contrast. We will then see the modest expenses that have accrued to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I am sure we will all agree that the Minister is nothing if not modest.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

No more than the Deputy.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. This is turning out to be a positive day, but we will see how long that lasts.

Why does the Minister not have access to, or sight of, the expenses of other Ministers? This has happened in other contexts where the Minister's Department has an overarching umbrella, yet when questions are asked - this being a particular instance - the Minister says it is a matter for the line Minister or Department. I would have thought that his departmental officials would have their beady eye across the board. He should be able to provide me with the information on each and every Minister. He might give the aggregate figure for his own personal expenses in the period outlined. As he is aware, this is a vexed issue owing to the hardship faced by many families outside the Chamber. In addition, it is the vouched and unvouched nature of some expenses which needs to be ironed out.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Deputy describes the listed expenses as "personal", but they are not personal to me. Many of them relate to hosting meetings or lunches when EU ministerial colleagues visit me. In the normal course, they also involve hiring transport to bring officials to meetings that I am attending. In that regard, they are not personal to me.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Minister knows what the figures are.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The notion that, as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, I determine each line Minister's expenses, or that he or she should have to run them past me before booking a flight to Brussels to attend a European Council meeting would not amount to an efficient way to operate.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is not a question of the Minister sanctioning them but of having information on them.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

All data are readily available in every Department and published. Most of us receive FOI requests on every cent incurred in expenses every month. Most of us now put everything online to obviate the need to do so. If there is one area that is rigorously exposed to public scrutiny, more than any other I can think of, it is the expenses paid to politicians.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

What is the aggregate figure?

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I actually do not have the aggregate figure, but the Deputy can do her own tot.