SF Aengus O'Snodaigh has claimed €50,000 in expenses for Printer Ink

Sully · 28-02-2012 1:04am #1

Was mentioned on tonight's Vinny B show. Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South Central Aengus O'Snodaigh has claimed €50,000 in expenses for Printer Ink over the past two years.

Its a bit of a pain in the backside hearing the "industrial wage" line trotted out by Sinn Fein as if they are doing the country a huge favour financially. There not. Their full wage is the same as the other TDs. They draw it down in full, and donate the remainder to the party. They claim their expenses just as much as other TDs, as seen here, which would bring their wage packet up a hefty sum all the same. Donating to their party isn't benefiting the states coffers. Its benefiting the Sinn Fein party.

Ink isn't cheap and neither is paper to be printing on. Its an awful lot of letters to be sending out to reach that sum though, so I can only assume there is other printing going on such as flyers?

jimmycrackcorm · 28-02-2012 1:22am

Sure they have to "donate" everything over their average wage to the party, is it any wonder their tds have to make a few euro.

Sierra Oscar · 28-02-2012 1:41am

Very peculiar indeed, SF have some questions to answer on this one. Is O'Snodaigh using taxpayers money to fund the printing of protest leaflets for the SF party? Is O'Snodaigh using taxpayers money to fund the printing of An Phoblacht?

Furthermore as it was an expenses claim, where is O'Snodaigh sourcing these cartridges? Is there a connection to the print publishing company, Coiscéim, which is run by his father?

Also there is the more simplistic question - how do you manage to spend nearly €500 on printing cartridges per week?

Bannasidhe · 28-02-2012 1:45am

Sully wrote: »

Was mentioned on tonight's Vinny B show. Sinn Féin TD for Dublin South Central Aengus O'Snodaigh has claimed €50,000 in expenses for Printer Ink over the past two years.

*Looks at Ireland - facepalms in despair.*

Kinski · 28-02-2012 2:15am

Sierra Oscar wrote: »

Also there is the more simplistic question - how do you manage to spend nearly €500 on printing cartridges per week?

Could easily spend that if you were printing a lot of colour documents (like, er, party leaflets) and purchasing new ones instead of refills. Those cartridges are expensive.

Should've got himself a laser printer...:pac:

Terrontress · 28-02-2012 2:20am

It's a grand a week, allowing for his office to shut for a week over Christmas and a week in the summer.

It would want to be some ink.

yourpics · 28-02-2012 2:27am

TD's have access to stationary in the Dáil and the Seanad.

I recently received a letter from a government minister and it was clear that the paper and envelope were supplied by the Dáil.

southsiderosie · 28-02-2012 5:26am

OP, do you have a link or something with more specifics? I'd be curious to see if these were general printing costs, or what they were specifically spending just on ink cartridges.

And just to be a bit contrarian here, does anyone know what TDs normally spend on printing? In my experience with political advocacy work, 1000/month in printing costs is not actually that much money, especially if his office issues monthly constituent newsletters in hardcopy and the like.

amacachi · 28-02-2012 7:47am

southsiderosie wrote: »

And just to be a bit contrarian here, does anyone know what TDs normally spend on printing? In my experience with political advocacy work, 1000/month in printing costs is not actually that much money, especially if his office issues monthly constituent newsletters in hardcopy and the like.

Full list of everyone's expenses: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlxJrxiwB44XdGJZcG0tUVI2aWVGZzdkUThWZG1FTHc#gid=0
WUAG (1 representative) is the party with the most expenses per person, after them it's Fianna Fail with Sinn Fein just behind. The other TDs in his constituency spent ~32k, ~22k, ~32k and ~22k while he spent ~32k. I would have thought that 25/32k per year going on printer ink would be a little disproportionate.

I do find it amazing how consistent each TD's spending is from month-to-month (maybe it's yearly and then divided, not sure of the point if so) and also how the same figures crop up for different TDs from similar areas. Obviously they're all staying in the same hotels and not shopping around whatsoever for transport.:rolleyes:

femur61 · 28-02-2012 7:54am

What was he printing? How much ink do you need to print Euros, sorry they have moved on from their shaddy past!

southsiderosie · 28-02-2012 8:54am

OK, I'm going to move this over to the Cafe because this seems to be a bit of ado about nothing, plus I get the sense that there are a lot more bad puns coming. :pac:

Please keep it semi-civilized though folks.

SSR

nacimroc · 28-02-2012 9:03am

I presumed he has resigned / been fired after being caught stealing an unusable amount of stuff ?? :mad::mad:

Pompey Magnus · 28-02-2012 9:42am

God love the Irish, we love to complain about TD's disappearing once they get elected only to surface when there is an election looming. Then when we get a story about a TD who presumably is very active in distributing leaflets to his constituency we hammer him for it.

ThisRegard · 28-02-2012 10:31am

There's a difference between actively distributing leaflets, and spamming people, if he has indeed used the ink how he claims it was used and hasn't set up a printing business as a sideline.

With the amount of ink he used he printed enough pages so that the electorate in his constituency would have received over 40 pages of paper from him. To put it in context, if there's at least two adults of voting age in a household, that household would have received on average 81 pages through their door.

Nijmegen · 28-02-2012 11:17am

I don't think there's a lot of ado about nothing. The Journal has a good explainer.

He took €55,000 of printer cartridges in 2 years printing leaflets for his constituency. The Oireachtas has since brought in a €2,000 limit for members following this.

It's one example of how politicians take the mickey when it comes to spending public money. They have to represent themselves, but €55,000 in 2 years is a lot of representing.

Tabnabs · 28-02-2012 11:24am

He made a defence of the situation on Newstalk this morning, it sounds like he's also using the Dail printers to add to the bulk?

http://www.newstalk.ie/2012/news/sf-td-defends-taking-e50000-worth-of-print-cartridges/

Tipp Man · 28-02-2012 11:24am

Daylight robbery is what it is

He needs a good grilling on this

Chuck Stone · 28-02-2012 11:26am

That's cost the tax payer a fair few squid.

mike65 · 28-02-2012 11:50am

Can any Dublin South Central readers tell of sightings of O'Snodaigh at car boot sales with a box of ink carts

kippy · 28-02-2012 11:56am

Someone summed it up well in an earlier post.
There is definetly an attitude of: It's not MY money, however I am ALLOWED to claim up to a certain amount, why not claim every penny or spend every penny for that matter.

The worrying thing is this attitude may permeate into the Civil/Public service when it comes to making decisions over certain aspects.

Sully · 28-02-2012 12:43pm

Curly Judge wrote: »

I wish to politely object to this being moved to the Cafe.
This is a serious thread on a disgraceful waste of public money and should not be sidelined.

Completely agree tbh. Its not a chit-chat, its about how one TD is ripping into the tax payer fund on crazy spending for his anti-everything leaflets and letters that seem to be going out on an alarming level. But best take it to PM rather than derail the thread any further me thinks.

Here is the article in the Indo. Don't think it appears in the printed edition.

SINN FEIN TD Aengus O Snodaigh today admitted taking computer print cartridges to the value of €50,000 over two years, but said that he had done nothing wrong.

The Dublin South Central representative said that the cartridges, from the Dail stationery stores, had been used in his constituency office for constituency material.

The Irish Daily Mail reports today that Mr O Snodaigh took three toner packs – valued at an average of €130 – each day the Dail sat in 2007. The total value was €25,969.

In 2008 he took 219 print cartridges valued at €24,701 bringing the two year total value to €50,671.

It was enough to print 1,760 letters a day or a total of 3.25m single page letters – more than 337 letters to each of the 4,825 people who gave him their first preference votes in the 2007 General Election, the newspaper says.

Speaking on Morning Ireland Mr O Snodaigh denied that he was printing election material, which is against the rules. He said the ink was for material for his constituents who received regular correspondence from his office.

Up to 2009 print toner kits were available in unlimited quantities and free of charge to TDs. The rules changed at the end of that year and were further modified in 2010.

TDs are now limited to cartridges up to the value of €2,000 per year and Senators are limited to €1,300. They must reimburse the State for any usage above these limits.

Source: http://www.independent.ie/national-news/sf-td-says-printer-cartridges-worth-50k-he-took-from-dail-were-for-constituency-work-3033049.html

ayeboy · 28-02-2012 12:45pm

Curly Judge wrote: »

I wish to politely object to this being moved to the Cafe.
This is a serious thread on a disgraceful waste of public money and should not be sidelined.

I totally agree. The moderator thinks this isnt a big deal?? Its day light robbery and O'Snodaigh deserves the sack.

Paparazzo · 28-02-2012 12:56pm

I moved to Dublin South Central a few years ago and was looking up the TD's to find out who's there. Anyway, from Aengus's wiki page:

In October 2002, five men in Snodaigh's constituency were arrested after discovery of a van in County Wicklow containing a sledgehammer, a black balaclava, a pickaxe handle, two-way radios, and a fluorescent jacket with the word "Garda" on it, along with election posters reading 'Sinn Féin No 1 Aengus Ó Snodaigh'. In a nearby Nissan Almera (with false numberplates) they found a blue flashing beacon, a stun gun, a canister of CS gas and a roll of masking tape.

Funny enough, that bit was edited out around election time. Good to see it back in!

Pompey Magnus · 28-02-2012 12:59pm

ayeboy wrote: »

I totally agree. The moderator thinks this isnt a big deal?? Its day light robbery and O'Snodaigh deserves the sack.

You do realise last year he still claimed less than the average amount in expenses claimed by TD's, so chances are if he was replaced it would mean someone who has even higher expenses would replace him.

And how exactly would you sack someone who did not act illegally and spent within his allocated budget?

kippy · 28-02-2012 1:05pm

Pompey Magnus wrote: »

You do realise last year he still claimed less than the average amount in expenses claimed by TD's, so chances are if he was replaced it would mean someone who has even higher expenses would replace him.

And how exactly would you sack someone who did not act illegally and spent within his allocated budget?

This is the crux of the issues we have in this country.
Legally he appears to have been well within his rights but morally and ethicilly he wasn't. Especially in times of "austerity"
He's not the only one who acts in this manner. It has been commonplace for years in this country that a percentage of every professions has acted in this manner and gotten away with it.
The only way to ensure it doesnt happen is to set and actively enforce strict rules on what people can and cannot do. Yeah, the rules are changing but its taking time.
You only have to look at how we have treated people like Aherne, O Donohoue, Callelly and many more to see the good, law abiding, tax paying citizen has been walked all over by the political class.

scholar007 · 28-02-2012 1:08pm

What happened to all the empty cartridges? Who recycled them or were they dumped?

SEPT 23 1989 · 28-02-2012 1:18pm

Thats more than a small print company would use in a year

Pompey Magnus · 28-02-2012 1:19pm

jmayo wrote: »

How much did callely run up on dodgy invoices for mobile phones ?

Is there evidence suggesting O Snodaigh was doing anything underhanded when claiming for these expenses?

scholar007 · 28-02-2012 1:23pm

scholar007 wrote: »

What happened to all the empty cartridges? Who recycled them or were they dumped?

Maybe they were "disappeared"!

Bits_n_Bobs · 28-02-2012 1:23pm

Seemingly it was for "literature". That's grand so, as long as it was not for "propaganda".

kippy · 28-02-2012 1:24pm

Pompey Magnus wrote: »

Is there evidence suggesting O Snodaigh was doing anything underhanded when claiming for these expenses?

I'll say this again, while what he did may not have been illegal (in the same vein as what callelly allegedly done), it certainly was not morally or ethically correct.

I suspect SF will eject him from the party over this, as it would not look good amoungst their grass roots if he were to be supported by the party.

(As an aside - the timing and publicity of this is interesting. In the few days after SF are shown to have made gains in the polls at the expense of FF this dirt comes out.......)

SF Aengus O'Snodaigh has claimed €50,000 in expenses for Printer Ink

Comments