How to cut politicians expenses.

starbelgrade

I had a look at the monthly expenses of our TDs, which are published on the Oireachtas website. Only one TD claimed less than €1,000 in expenses for the month of April, the rest varied from €1,000 to over €5,000, the highest claimant being Jackie Healy Rae.

Now these expenses are supposed to cover the cost of travel, accomodation & food, so I was thinking - what ways could we get them to reduce their expenses?

One of my ideas would be to get them to rent houses - and have a few of them bunk in together. With the savings, they could employ a chef & cleaner and it would still work out cheaper than a hotel, plus they'd be eating a lot healthier, which can only be a good thing...

So - any more ideas?

Minstrel27

starbelgrade wrote: »

So - any more ideas?

They could live the same lifestyle as the majority of those they claim to represent. A chef and a cleaner?

Danbo!

This one is a bit wacky, and off-the-edge, but bear with me!!

How about they pay for travel, accommodation & food using their wages?

rugbyman

Like most others do?
Wacky indeed.
Rugbyman

Mike 1972

Whatever about travel and accommodation Ive never seen the logic behind claiming food on expenses.

ejmaztec

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Whatever about travel and accommodation Ive never seen the logic behind claiming food on expenses.

It's due to the price differential between the packet of Taytos that they would normally eat, and the 5 course dinner and lap-dancer that they think they should get.

irelandrover

To be fair everyone claims travel, accomodation and food when they travel for their job. I know when i travel I have to eat out and stay in hotels. This would be a lot more expensive than stying at home and cooking for myself. It would be very unfair to make me pay for the food.

Gone Fishin

The simplest and easiest way to reduce Politicians expenses is to make the vouch for every single expense using a receipt. The second thing is to set out acceptable guidelines for the expenses. I work in the private sector and my expenses are just not covered if I don't produce a receipt, its that simple. Secondly, I have guidelines for example: €150 per night maximum for hotels and €40 per night for dinner. These are the guidelines and we operate within them. I cannot understand why the same criteria is not applicable to them.

thebigbiffo

Gone Fishin wrote: »

The simplest and easiest way to reduce Politicians expenses is to make the vouch for every single expense using a receipt. The second thing is to set out acceptable guidelines for the expenses. I work in the private sector and my expenses are just not covered if I don't produce a receipt, its that simple. Secondly, I have guidelines for example: €150 per night maximum for hotels and €40 per night for dinner. These are the guidelines and we operate within them. I cannot understand why the same criteria is not applicable to them.

totally agreed...but a €40 dinner! yer creamin it ya b'astard

recylingbin

Gone Fishin wrote: »

The simplest and easiest way to reduce Politicians expenses is to make the vouch for every single expense using a receipt. .

This won't work.
I know of a politician - i.e. I saw it with my own eyes - who ordered a round of drinks for 10 or so people and asked for a receipt for food and got it.

Their expenses are bull****. Food? They have to eat. It's not like if they weren't elected representatives that they'd fast. They should pay for that themselves.
Travel, ok. grand. But don't pay them per mile. Give them a Topaz or Texaco charge card so that each purchase can be itemised.

The expense train has to stop. They want to charge us for water, cut single parent allowance and a host of other things while they claim the average industrial wage in expenses.

What exactly do they do with their own wages?

RATM

Gone Fishin wrote: »

T Secondly, I have guidelines for example: €150 per night maximum for hotels and €40 per night for dinner. These are the guidelines and we operate within them. I cannot understand why the same criteria is not applicable to them.

150 nicker for a hotel? 40 for dinner? Talk about scalping it, fair play to ya!

As an aside I have a mate who travels on the job as a civil servant. THe hotel allowance is 139 per night (I think its the same for TD's). So recently he was in Galway for the week and there's tons of hotel deals on during the winter off-season. SO he rings round and finds a place to stay for 35 a night, brekkie included. The 5 night stay cost him 175 but his 5 night allowance came to 695. The difference between them is 520 which goes straight into his pocket courtesy of the taxpayer.

starbelgrade

recylingbin wrote: »

What exactly do they do with their own wages?

I think most of them put it into shares / deposits in Anglo Irish Bank, which is why there is no way they were gonna let it fail.

Celly Smunt

Sub of the day=problem solved

starbelgrade

Minstrel27 wrote: »

They could live the same lifestyle as the majority of those they claim to represent. A chef and a cleaner?

Well, in fairness, most of them would have a little wifey at home doing those things for them, so fair game. No disrespect to the little wifeys by the way.

rugbyman

irelandrover wrote: »

To be fair everyone claims travel, accomodation and food when they travel for their job. I know when i travel I have to eat out and stay in hotels. This would be a lot more expensive than stying at home and cooking for myself. It would be very unfair to make me pay for the food.

Yes Rover, when travelling for your job. Not for travelling to and from your job.
Rugbyman

Grumpypants

Stee wrote: »

This one is a bit wacky, and off-the-edge, but bear with me!!

How about they pay for travel, accommodation & food using their wages?

Its an out there concept alright I have always felt that if you earn 140,000 euro a year you can afford to pay for your own big macs.

ScumLord

Gone Fishin wrote: »

I have guidelines for example: €150 per night maximum for hotels and €40 per night for dinner.

Their being very generous, you should tell you boss about the likes of travel inn and McDonnalds euro saver meals.

Sonnenblumen

starbelgrade wrote: »

I had a look at the monthly expenses of our TDs, which are published on the Oireachtas website. Only one TD claimed less than €1,000 in expenses for the month of April, the rest varied from €1,000 to over €5,000, the highest claimant being Jackie Healy Rae.

I'd like to know where JHR buys his fashion?

Sonnenblumen

ScumLord wrote: »

Their being very generous, you should tell you boss about the likes of travel inn and McDonnalds euro saver meals.

Tescos Dine for 2 + Wine for € 10.00 but you'll have to cook in it in the Dublin hol home of a Seanad member.

Nijmegen

How about we get a typical housewife with three kids and an average industrial wage to support her family, give her a nanny to mind the kids a few hours a day and clean the house and cook, and we get her to spend some time setting out the cheapest housing and food - using the bulk purchasing power of the Dail to good effect - that she would use herself, and mandate that the cretens in the Dail have to work off of this list of supplies and suppliers daily, or it comes out of their pocket?

starbelgrade

Sonnenblumen wrote: »

I'd like to know where JHR buys his fashion?

He used most of his expenses to build a time machine which he uses to travel back to the 1940's, where he buys his clothes.

Mike 1972

irelandrover wrote: »

I know when i travel I have to eat out and stay in hotels. This would be a lot more expensive than stying at home and cooking for myself.

Most hotels have a Spar/Londis/Mace/Centra/etc nearby

Din Taylor

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but think i America each Washington politician lives in a designated house. For example there is a house for the Junior Senator from Illinois. Whoever happens to be the JUnior Senator form Illinois lives at that house.

Something similar for non-Dublin/Meath/Kildare/Wicklow/Louth TDs and/or money for travel to and from consitiuency only. Food shouldn't be covered.

NTMK

starbelgrade wrote: »

So - any more ideas?

Don't give them any expenses they earn enough anyway

ejmaztec

Din Taylor wrote: »

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but think i America each Washington politician lives in a designated house. For example there is a house for the Junior Senator from Illinois. Whoever happens to be the JUnior Senator form Illinois lives at that house.

Something similar for non-Dublin/Meath/Kildare/Wicklow/Louth TDs and/or money for travel to and from consitiuency only. Food shouldn't be covered.

They should put the TDs in the Joy with the other criminals.

Din Taylor

ejmaztec wrote: »

They should put the TDs in the Joy with the other criminals.

A lot more sensible than my suggestion.

DarkJager

A good old fashioned ****ing lynching is what we need for these *****.

MikeC101

Even though it's probably realistically unworkable, I've always liked the idea of tying their expenses to the constituency that elects them in some way.

The only reason Healy-Rae, for example, gets away with such outrageous expenses is because the people who elect him do so on the basis that he "does a lot for the county" and sure he's only playing the system, the cute hoor.

Start taking his expenses from funds that would go to maintain local roads, hospitals etc, and it might get the point across.

Most likely practically not possible though, so instead - reasonable limits on expenses, no unvouched expenses, and things like hotel rooms / meals bought in bulk, at a discount for mid range hotels and restaurants, with vouchers given out before trips entitling them to their meals and a room, nothing more.

sxt

starbelgrade wrote: »

Now these expenses are supposed to cover the cost of travel, accomodation & food, so I was thinking - what ways could we get them to reduce their expenses?


So - any more ideas?

Reduce the expenses by not voting in these amadans in the first place. The disgusting cheek of this guy Claiming back on a 1 euro donation to Unicef:eek:

don;t vote for

MikeC101

sxt wrote: »

Reduce the expenses by not voting in these amadans in the first place. The disgusting cheek of this guy Claiming back on a 1 euro donation to Unicef:eek:

don;t vote for

While I definitely don't want to be defending the guy - look at the total cost :eek: - he's just submitted the whole bill, and that 1 euro for UNICEF thing was just added on by the hotel to his bill, rather than him going out of his way to claim for it.

Din Taylor

MikeC101 wrote: »

While I definitely don't want to be defending the guy - look at the total cost :eek: - he's just submitted the whole bill, and that 1 euro for UNICEF thing was just added on by the hotel to his bill, rather than him going out of his way to claim for it.

He just has to use a pen to cross it off the bill.

Son Of A Vidic

Carry out a 'cull' on politicians, that'll reduce the expenses us taxpayers cover.

skepticalone

give the fookers 198 euro a week to manage on like the 40 ooo other people that these absolute wasters apparently represent , thatll teach them the value of the euro .

The Express

Get Paddywagon tours to handle all accommodation and transport for the cnuts.

No more Mercs, tacky looking neo Georgian mansions or Florida hairdoos.

Everyone back on the bus!!*

*Last one on sleeps in the bottom bunk below Biffo!

MikeC101

Din Taylor wrote: »

He just has to use a pen to cross it off the bill.

But then he'd have to claim for the diamond encrusted, gold plated pen he had to purchase to do that!

starbelgrade

MikeC101 wrote: »

Even though it's probably realistically unworkable, I've always liked the idea of tying their expenses to the constituency that elects them in some way.

This already happens - the allowances per TD differ, depending on how far they have to travel. Being from south Kerry, that would mean he travels further than a TD from Meath, for example. However, his expenses are still ridiculously high.

MikeC101 wrote: »

The only reason Healy-Rae, for example, gets away with such outrageous expenses is because the people who elect him do so on the basis that he "does a lot for the county" and sure he's only playing the system, the cute hoor.

The only reason a lot of politicians get elected is because they do a lot for their region. I don't think anyone will be too impressed to see the expenses any of them rack up & the electorate of south Kerry would be no different in that respect.

MikeC101 wrote: »

Start taking his expenses from funds that would go to maintain local roads, hospitals etc, and it might get the point across.

Cutting funding to hospitals & roads will affect the electorate more than the elected. That's a ridiculous suggestion.

MikeC101 wrote: »

Most likely practically not possible though, so instead - reasonable limits on expenses, no unvouched expenses, and things like hotel rooms / meals bought in bulk, at a discount for mid range hotels and restaurants, with vouchers given out before trips entitling them to their meals and a room, nothing more.

Sounds a lot more reasonable!

s14driftking

they should be given wat i was given in the building trade when i had to work away from home roughly on extra 180 euro a week to feed and find accomdation
i did it as did many others let them do it

MikeC101

starbelgrade wrote: »

This already happens - the allowances per TD differ, depending on how far they have to travel. Being from south Kerry, that would mean he travels further than a TD from Meath, for example. However, his expenses are still ridiculously high.

I'm aware of this - but what I mean is payment for said expenses to be linked with their constituency, ie come out of the pockets of the electorate in their constituency, be it from rates or whatever.

starbelgrade wrote: »

The only reason a lot of politicians get elected is because they do a lot for their region. I don't think anyone will be too impressed to see the expenses any of them rack up & the electorate of south Kerry would be no different in that respect.

Time and time again we've seen TDs re-elected because they "do a lot for the county" regardless of their character, or behaviour - Beverly Cooper-Flynn, Michael Lowry etc. Healy-Rae has had huge expenses for years - the South Kerry electorate have been voting him in since 2002. John O Donoghue, if he stands next time, will probably get re-elected.

There's no national vision from our politicians - there's far too much grabbing as much for your county as you can to make sure you get re-elected, everything else be damned. The electorate of South Kerry will do what the electorate of every other constituency does, and vote for the guy who can grab the most money for their county (or in the case of Healy-Rae, deliver a small hospital to the region, despite the HSE trying to cut expenses by closing the smaller hospitals elsewhere). The expenses thing is just another symptom of this mentality.

starbelgrade wrote: »

Cutting funding to hospitals & roads will affect the electorate more than the elected. That's a ridiculous suggestion.

Where do you think the money is coming from at the moment? It's all taken from the same income - it's still money that could be going to fund hospitals and roads. But the electorate electing the cute hoor who fiddles his expenses don't bear the brunt of that decision, in fact they probably benefit from it, as his cute hoorism extends to getting as much cash for his constituency as possible.

Given that whenever these expenses scandals hit, there seems to be this odd "Sure he's only taking money off the lads in Dublin" mentality from the constituencies, it might hammer home the point. You can be sure the politicians would cut their expense claims if their own electorate was seeing it come from their pockets. But as I said, practically unworkable.

starbelgrade wrote: »

Sounds a lot more reasonable!

It just seems so obvious - negotiate a deal with a few hotel chains to bulk buy rooms at a discounted rate, and give vouchers when they're needed.