Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

However, it behoves us to point out that this legislative Chamber is equal to its Dáil counterpart. When we are being treated differently from our colleagues in the Lower House in respect of the expenses regime, we must ask that the situation be examined. The Minister sympathises with us in our plight in terms of constituency offices. As we have outlined, our constituency is the whole country. We are not looking for anything extra here. A myth went out during the referendum on the abolition of the Seanad that Senators were seeking an additional €5,000 each. Nothing could be further from the truth.