Munster Express Online

Waterford Fianna Fail TD Brendan Kenneally has once again come near the top of the Dáil expenses table.

According to figures obtained by the ‘Sunday Independent’ under the Freedom of Information Act, the city-based backbencher claimed €83,471 in 2009 and €93,880 in 2008, which was the highest claim of any member of Leinster House that year. His expenses bill for the 12 months just ended was the largest of any TD in Munster and the fifth-highest of the 166 members of Dáil Eireann.

The expenses claimed by TDs up to now have been largely tax-free and unvouched. Deputies living more than 15 miles from Leinster House receive travel and overnight subsistence payments, though mileage rates were reduced by 25% by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan early last year.

TDs can also claim a telephone allowance of up to €5,700, a secretarial allowance, rental allowance, foreign travel, a constituency office grant of €8,000, plus a maintenance allowance of €8,000 for that office. They also get €750 every 18 months for a mobile phone and car kit, and €5,000 in ‘miscellaneous’ expenses to cover refreshments and the cost of holding clinics.

The top overall Dáil claimant in 2009 was Galway East Fianna Fail TD Noel Treacy, with €95,233. However, this included an allowance of €10,016 as chairman of an Oireachtas joint-committee.

A former accountant, Mr Kenneally’s total was appreciably more than the expenses claimed by Labour’s Brian O’Shea (€48,494 – putting him 88th on the list) and Fine Gael’s John Deasy (€44,065 – 95th); both below the €50,000 average.

The claims from ministers including Martin Cullen (€21,288) are lower because many of the expenses incurred in running an office are assumed by their departments, and they also have the use of full-time garda drivers.

Mr Kenneally’s Oireachtas allowances for last year were €10,016. He is currently vice-chairman of the Oireachtas joint-committee on Heritage and the Irish Language, and is a member of the Joint Committees on Tourism, Sport & Recreation and Health & Education.

Having regained his Dáil seat in May 2007, his total combined expenses and allowances for the past two years of €177,351 are on top of his annual TD’s salary of €106,500 (which was only €44,000 in 1997) – though politicians’ pay is now affected by the public service pension levy.

The December Budget further cut TDs’ pay by around €22,000 per annum, and a new vouched expenses system will apply from now on.