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How to cut politicians expenses.

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Comments

  • #32
    Son Of A Vidic
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 32,370 ✭✭✭✭Son Of A Vidic


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


  • #33
    skepticalone
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 185 ✭✭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 .


  • #34
    The Express
    Closed Accounts Posts: 373 ✭✭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!


  • #35
    MikeC101
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,707 ✭✭✭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!


  • #36
    starbelgrade
    Closed Accounts Posts: 20,739 ✭✭✭✭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!


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  • #37
    s14driftking
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 645 ✭✭✭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


  • #38
    MikeC101
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,707 ✭✭✭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.


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