THE COST of running the Houses of the Oireachtas fell from €123.2 million in 2009 to €107.2 million last year, the report found.
Salaries for members of the Houses fell in 2010, but travel expense claims increased. Total salaries in 2010 were €20.98 million, down from €23.78 million the previous year.
The figure applies to payments to Senators and TDs and one (unidentified) MEP and does not include additional income earned by the Taoiseach and Government Ministers, which come directly from the relevant departments.
Travel expenses in 2010 were €5.96 million, up from €5.17 million the previous year.
Other allowances and expenses also increased, as did the cost of secretarial assistance for non-office holders.
In the former case, the figure in 2010 was €7.9 million, up from €7.2 million the previous year. The cost of secretarial assistance was €20.49 million, up from €19.5 million the previous year.
There were significant decreases in the cost of other administrative expenses.
Salaries, wages and allowances for staff members of the Houses of the Oireachtas were €23.5 million last year, down from €26 million in 2009.
Other administrative expenses were €14 million, down from €24.2 million. The cost of other services, such as payments to catering and bar staff and televising Oireachtas proceedings, were €4.2 million last year, down from €6.8 million in 2009.
The report said one MEP received his or her salary from the exchequer, while other MEPs have opted to be paid directly from the European Commission.
The cost of administering central government was estimated at €2.6 billion in 2010, approximately 4.2 per cent of total programme expenditure. Approximately 71 per cent of this was salaries.
