Paul Bradford (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 7:

In page 12, after line 42, to insert the following:“Amendment of Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act 2009
4. Section 3 of the Oireachtas (Allowances to Members) and Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices Act 2009 is amended by the substitution of the following subsection for subsection (3):

“(3) The Minister may, in applying the parliamentary standard allowance to a member of the Oireachtas —

(a) by regulation revoke any regulations previously made under this section,
(b) determine in regulations made under subsection (4) the rates and amounts payable to a member or members of the Oireachtas, to be applied to the same category of allowable expenses by a member of Seanad Éireann as may be applied by a member of Dáil Éireann,
and
(c) to be applied as appropriate and as determined by the Minister, to the categories of expenses as included in the definition of ‘expenses arising from parliamentary activities, including research’ in section 10H of the Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Act 2001, as inserted by section 3 of the Oireachtas (Ministerial and Parliamentary Offices) (Amendment) Act 2013.”.”.

Truthfully, I moved this amendment to generate some debate with the Minister on the broader subject of expenses. I am not so much concerned with the amount Senators receive. I respect the fact these are difficult financial times for taxpayers, the Government and the country. The maximum allowable expense for Senators is €12,000, compared to €23,000 or €24,000 for Deputies.

It is probably fair and balanced and I am not proposing any changes which would allow Senators to receive more than they are currently entitled to legally receive. Will the Minister reflect on the categories of what are determined to be allowable expenses for Seanad purposes, however?

While we have had many discussions on this matter with the Minister and his officials over the past 24 months, last week an anomaly came to my attention which highlights the need for these categories to be changed. A Member of Dáil Éireann is entitled to an office allowance, a constituency office and other entitlements which Senators do not have. As part of these allowances, a Dáil Member is entitled to purchase an iPad yet a Senator, who is not entitled to a constituency office, is not allowed the purchase of an iPad as an allowable expense. When one of my colleagues said this to me last week, I assured her she could not be correct but it turns out that is the rule.

There are 15 categories of allowable expenses for Deputies with only five categories for Senators. We are not children of a lesser political god but fully fledged Oireachtas Members. We were also fully approved, unlike the Dáil, in a recent referendum by the people. As well as being members of various committees, under the Leader, Senator Cummins, we meet as many days as the Dáil does. We tend to be busier from a parliamentary perspective. If the records were checked, it would be noted every Member of the Seanad contributes more by way of debate. I am not sure of the value of our contributions sometimes, but there are more contributions by all Seanad Members on the floor of this House than by Dáil Members in that Chamber.

Will the Minister re-examine the categories of expenses? I have no difficulty with the fact Senators receive less than half the financial expenses a Dáil Member gets. An argument could be made that it should be balanced. Senators receive a maximum €12,000 for vouched expenses. However, the categories which we can vouch for are extremely limited and narrow.

The party allowance available to Independent Members is important for them for research, training, policy formulation, hiring staff, conducting public opinion polls and purchasing support services. The Minister should examine the possibility of a single list of fair and reasonable categories to apply under the party leaders’ allowance, public representation and Independents. There is the anomaly in the concept that a Senator is not entitled financially to have an office. The vouched leaders’ allowance system with the €20,000 available under it allows an Independent Senator to have an office, however. Senators Crown, Barrett and Norris can open an office if they so wish under this Bill yet the other 57 Members cannot. That is two Houses within the one House. It is a good time for the Minister to look upon these anomalies as the Seanad referendum is over. There was an erroneous, possibly deliberately leaked, silly made-up story that Senators were looking for €4,000 more in expenses.