INDEPENDENT TDs and Senators have been paid more than €4.6 million in “party leaders’ allowances” since 2005, according to figures from the Department of Finance. Non-party TDs were paid a total of €2 million in party leaders’ allowances, while Independent Senators got more than €2.6 million.
The allowance, paid on top of salary and other allowances and expenses, is tax-free and Independents do not have to account for how the money is spent.
Dublin Independent TD Finian McGrath and Tipperary North’s Michael Lowry are the biggest recipients of the allowance since the start of 2005, with payments of almost €250,000 each, according to the departmental figures obtained under freedom of information legislation.
Kerry South TD Jackie Healy- Rae claimed €227,000 over the same period.
In the Seanad, presidential hopeful David Norris picked up more than €143,000 in party leaders’ allowances over the past six years. A spokeswoman said none of this money was being used on his presidential campaign.
Twenty-six Oireachtas members are now entitled to the allowance, well up from the 10 who were claiming it last year, because of the success of so many Independents in February’s general election.
Two independent TDs, Stephen Donnelly and Mick Wallace, and two Senators, Martin McAleese and Fiach Mac Conghail, have not claimed their entitlement since entering the Oireachtas this year, but say they intend to do so shortly.
Last year, four TDs received the €41,152 allowance – Mr McGrath, Mr Healy-Rae, Mr Lowry and Maureen O’Sullivan. The Seanad allowance of €23,383 was collected by Mr Norris, Shane Ross, Joe O’Toole, Feargal Quinn, Rónán Mullen and Eoghan Harris.
The remaining university Senator, Ivana Bacik, claimed the allowance until September 2009, when she took the Labour whip.
Members of political parties in the Oireachtas are also supported by the taxpayer but the money goes to the party organisation, which has to account for how it is spent. Parties use the funding to pay for staff and headquarters and carry out research. Political parties received €13.5 million in State funding last year. The money must not be used for election purposes.
The State ethics watchdog, the Standards in Public Office Commission, has repeatedly pointed out that Independent members are not obliged to provide a statement of expenditure in relation to money they receive under the allowance.
The money continues to be paid to individual TDs in the current Dáil even though most of them have formed themselves into a technical group to avail of the same entitlements as political parties during debates.
In response to the comments by the commission, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin is examining how to make the payment of the allowance more accountable.
Mr Donnelly said he and many other Independents believed it was wrong that the allowance was unvouched, but he insisted the payment was necessary to help Independent TDs operate effectively in the democratic process.
An analysis carried out by the technical group of Independents claims to show that they get only a third of the funding per TD allocated to Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin.
“We are providing at least as effective opposition as Fianna Fáil for one-third of the cost and with far fewer staff,” said Mr Donnelly.
Top payments under party leaders' allowances legislation since 2005 (to end June 2011)
DÁIL
Finian McGrath €249,113
Michael Lowry €249,111
Jackie Healy-Rae €227,000
SEANAD
David Norris €143,423
Feargal Quinn €143,423
Shane Ross €135,621 (plus €14,207 for Dáil)