A sharp drop in the number of TDs and Senators sending taxpayer-funded Christmas cards is guaranteed this festive season as elected representatives fear irritating their constituents.
One of the perks Oireachtas members enjoy is an in-house printing service allowing them to produce customised cards for voters.
Just 47 Christmas card orders were received by Leinster House authorities this year from the 225 members of the Dáil and Seanad, down from 132 in 2012.
One former minister, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the concept of TDs and Senators not having to buy their own Christmas cards or pay for postage had the potential to enrage constituents.
Changed culture
“It’s just not on now. The whole culture has changed. I think people resent it really, and they’ve every right to. People are very sensitive to communications now, particularly from politicians.”
The former minister also pointed to a downward trend in sending traditional paper Christmas cards in the age of widespread internet usage, when people regularly communicated for free using Twitter, Skype and email.
In 2012, a total of 217,020 cards were produced in Leinster House at a cost of €9,621.90. This year, just 42,850 cards were printed for a total of €2,305.
Politicians' Christmas cards have caused controversy in the past. People in the Dublin Central constituency complained about receiving multiple cards in prepaid Oireachtas envelopes from former taoiseach Bertie Ahern in 2009.
Former senator Ivor Callely’s 2004 card featured a photograph of him and his family posing at the Fry Model Railway Museum in Malahide.
Independent TD John Halligan was one of the deputies who availed of the Leinster House printing service and used some Oireachtas envelopes to send individualised Christmas cards in the past, but now covers the costs himself.
The Waterford TD is a humanist and his non-religious, extra-terrestrial-themed cards have attracted attention in recent years. This year’s offering features computer circuits super-imposed on a sci-fi eye and contains the cryptic message: “It’s not what you see it’s how you see it”.
