10k of tax money spent on TD's Christmas Cards

Lemlin · 11-01-2012 11:44AM #1

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/its-a-christmas-card-john-but-not-as-we-know-it-2985034.html?start=1

TDs and senators spent more than €10,000 of taxpayers' money on greetings cards to friends and associates at Christmas.

But the Oireachtas could not provide a detailed breakdown to show which TDs or senators had the most cards printed off.

A spokeswoman for the Houses of the Oireachtas said the in-house printing facility was open to all TDs and senators, and 132 availed of it at an average cost of less than half a cent per card.

It comes after Waterford Independent TD John Halligan -- an avowed atheist -- sent out 800 alien-themed Christmas cards to people in Ireland and abroad.

In total, 217,020 cards were printed by the Oireachtas for TDs and senators to use. A spokeswoman said this worked out at 0.044c for each one.

The total bill of €9,622 was made up of €7,166 in paper costs, €2,376 in printing plate costs and €80 on printer ink.

Mr Halligan also admitted sending some out in Oireachtas envelopes, which TDs and senators can post free of charge.

The Oireachtas spokeswoman added that it was impossible to say how many members had done this. "We have no way of knowing whether these cards were posted or not and if they were posted, whether Oireachtas envelopes were used or not," she said.

Mr Halligan said since he was an atheist, he sent out the alien-themed cards -- complete with spaceships -- as an alternative to traditional Christmas scenes.

"I've kept up the reputation of sending an oddball Christmas card to people at Christmastime," Mr Halligan told RTE Radio's 'John Murray Show' yesterday.

"They go down quite well. Often people have rang me and asked me what it's about and I say, 'Well, it's a different card'."

Unbelievable. It's bull**** like this still going on that will see this country never recover from the problems we have now.

bleg · 11-01-2012 11:47AM

They still don't get it.

membersonly · 11-01-2012 11:48AM

An atheist sending out alien themed Christmas cards = attention seeking clown.

starbelgrade · 11-01-2012 11:50AM

Considering what they get paid on an hourly rate, the time they spent talking about this & the number of TDs & Senators involved in the discussion, I would hazard a guess that the overall total cost of this - added to the cost of the cards themselves - would be up on around €30-€40k.

Sofa King Great · 11-01-2012 11:51AM

And I wonder who paid for all the envelopes, stamps and the people who had to print the addresses and stuff the envelopes!!

The cards are the tip of the iceberg!

listermint · 11-01-2012 11:53AM

When does the straw happen that we just take down the front gates.....

casandra · 11-01-2012 11:53AM

When will politicians realise that every euro spent is Public money, not theirs. there was another case recently where councilors got free expensive mobile phones and because the money came from an already allocated fund they thought this was o.k, they do not know HOW TO SAVE MONEY !!!

o1s1n · 11-01-2012 12:01PM

Why does this article seem to be focused around the atheism of one TD and not the sheer stupidity of the whole issue at stake?

Sending out €10,000 worth of Christmas cards using tax money is absolutely daft. What happens to be printed on the cards is irrelevant.

Meauldsegosha · 11-01-2012 12:04PM

Why is an atheist sending out "Christmas" cards anyway??

seantorious · 11-01-2012 12:07PM

TishyO wrote: »

Why is an atheist sending out "Christmas" cards anyway??

Who cares, by the same logic why was a christian sending cards for a pagan holiday?

o1s1n · 11-01-2012 12:19PM

TishyO wrote: »

Why is an atheist sending out "Christmas" cards anyway??

And that is exactly what this article wants to sideline you into thinking.

Why do his reasons for sending cards matter? Does the fact that he's an athiest make him more to blame than 131 other TDs who did exactly the same thing?

No. They're ALL equally as stupid for wasting tax money.

micropig · 11-01-2012 12:19PM

just typing up my bill now to see if they'll refund expenses for my cards & pressies!
can i bill per hour for handmade ones?

start saving now because paddy's days junkets are on the horizon - free holidays all round,this will be insigifant.

Duggy747 · 11-01-2012 12:21PM

Mentioning his atheism to throw the story off into another direction.

Daft cùnt spending money like should be the focus.

Sofa King Great · 11-01-2012 12:43PM

The athiest cards only represent 0.3% of all cards of €35. Pointless mentioning it

Lemlin · 11-01-2012 12:46PM

Duggy747 wrote: »

Mentioning his atheism to throw the story off into another direction.

Daft cùnt spending money like should be the focus.

I agree. And the worst part of it is that he sent 800. How much administration time did it take to get all of those ready to go out?

Just to be fooked into a bin somewhere.

Meauldsegosha · 11-01-2012 12:47PM

o1s1n wrote: »

And that is exactly what this article wants to sideline you into thinking.

Why do his reasons for sending cards matter? Does the fact that he's an athiest make him more to blame than 131 other TDs who did exactly the same thing?

No. They're ALL equally as stupid for wasting tax money.

I'm not stupid and I understood the article perfectly. He was the one mentioned in the article that's why I commented on him.

I think the fact that there is an in-house printing facility for members is a complete waste of money. Why do they need headed note paper with pictures of themselves on it? Why print leaflets and drop them into houses, who reads them?

o1s1n · 11-01-2012 01:08PM

TishyO wrote: »

I'm not stupid and I understood the article perfectly. He was the one mentioned in the article that's why I commented on him.

But by even asking why an athiest would be sending christmas cards you've fallen victim to the awful sensationalist journalism.

TishyO wrote: »

I think the fact that there is an in-house printing facility for members is a complete waste of money. Why do they need headed note paper with pictures of themselves on it? Why print leaflets and drop them into houses, who reads them?

Too right, I didn't even know they had an in-house printing facility! It's mind boggling as to why they would need such a thing.

Run_to_da_hills · 11-01-2012 01:41PM

It would have paid off for them, they probably received more than €10,000 back with Christmas cards in brown envelopes.

Rabies · 11-01-2012 01:45PM

$10k is a drop in to ocean when it comes to government spending.

Sure, a TS sending out 800 cards is excessive, but I wouldn't stop then from sending out cards. Even a few hundred is fine.

They're job is to kiss ass, try and get sh!t done and keep their name in people's heads in a positive light.

This is just the media throwing this crap out to the public to fuel the fire and keep the general public opinion leaning towards the negative, recession blah blah, government hating, politician bashing blah blah..

Lemlin · 11-01-2012 01:49PM

Rabies wrote: »

$10k is a drop in to ocean when it comes to government spending.

Sure, a TS sending out 800 cards is excessive, but I wouldn't stop then from sending out cards. Even a few hundred is fine.

They're job is to kiss ass, try and get sh!t done and keep their name in people's heads in a positive light.

This is just the media throwing this crap out to the public to fuel the fire and keep the general public opinion leaning towards the negative, recession blah blah, government hating, politician bashing blah blah..

I've no problem with them sending out cards either. Once they pay for them themselves like everyone else does.

They are on salaries of 100k a year or so. So why can't they afford a few Christmas cards out of their own pocket?

Yes, 10k is miniscule in terms of government spending but if they cut out crap like this, the different 10ks wouldn't be long adding up to alot more.

Standard Toaster · 11-01-2012 01:49PM

Where's my fucking card?

ilovesleep · 11-01-2012 01:58PM

And yet for us, for many people, things are so dire that agreements were made between people and families to forget about exchanging gifts in an effort to save a bit of money. Xmas was cancelled or it was a very low key affair for many, many people.

And politicians are insulting us again by spending more than 10k on xmas cards. That is one expense that they could do away with. But why would they? I'd like to remind people that in decembers they gave themselves and increase in allowances just for this kind of sh1te - office expenditure.

Run_to_da_hills · 11-01-2012 02:03PM

Rabies wrote: »

$10k is a drop in to ocean when it comes to government spending. .

10k is several hospital beds

ilovesleep · 11-01-2012 02:08PM

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

10k is several hospital beds

or

113 disabed youngsters could have been spared the 88 euro cut to disability allowance down from what 188? to 100 euro.

Clearly xmas cards are more important than disabled teenagers.

dvpower · 11-01-2012 02:18PM

Duggy747 wrote: »

Mentioning his atheism to throw the story off into another direction.

Daft cùnt spending money like should be the focus.

The interview was about the unusual nature of the cards, not the taxpayer paying for them. That fact came out at the end of the interview

Rabies · 11-01-2012 02:23PM

Lemlin wrote: »

I've no problem with them sending out cards either. Once they pay for them themselves like everyone else does.

They are on salaries of 100k a year or so. So why can't they afford a few Christmas cards out of their own pocket?

Yes, 10k is miniscule in terms of government spending but if they cut out crap like this, the different 10ks wouldn't be long adding up to alot more.

Don't think they should be made pay for it themselves.
Have a certain amount that is covered, then anything over they pay themselves.
Same as the secretarial duties. Some TDs have higher costs than others. Give them an allowance, if they go over, they pay.

dvpower · 11-01-2012 02:24PM

ilovesleep wrote: »

or

113 disabed youngsters could have been spared the 88 euro cut to disability allowance down from what 188? to 100 euro.

Clearly xmas cards are more important than disabled teenagers.

By that measure, every single thing that the state pays money for is more important than disabled teenagers.

Lemlin · 11-01-2012 02:32PM

Rabies wrote: »

Don't think they should be made pay for it themselves.
Have a certain amount that is covered, then anything over they pay themselves.
Same as the secretarial duties. Some TDs have higher costs than others. Give them an allowance, if they go over, they pay.

And why shouldn't they pay for it themselves? Could I have some reasoning behind your argument.

The people who pay taxes to pay these idiots have to pay for their own Christmas cards. In fact, I've yet to hear of a job that covers the cost of Christmas cards for its employees as one of its perks.

Rabies · 11-01-2012 02:45PM

To be honest, I don't have any reason behind it. Just my view on it.
Just what I think.

Thats all

Irish Steve · 11-01-2012 03:17PM

And I will bet that there's no benefit in kind charge applied to them for this either.

I am getting to the point where I wonder if the old revolutionary concept of storming the place, lining them up against a wall and bringing in the firing squad is a concept that while barbaric by modern standards, it had a good side, which was to focus the minds of the people there on the job they were supposed to be doing.

Lost the plot doesn't even come close.

FG/Labour may well be limited in what they can do by the coalition agreement and the troika, but I don't see much activity on the ground in terms of getting to grips with the massive waste that has been going on for years, and worse, no sense that they have any plan, ideas or motivation to change the underlying attitudes that are there.

Time for some real leadership, instead of the fudge and silence that we're so used to.

o1s1n · 11-01-2012 03:27PM

dvpower wrote: »

By that measure, every single thing that the state pays money for is more important than disabled teenagers.

No, as different things have different priorities.

Christmas cards are right at the bottom, if not THE bottom of that priority list. €10,000 on something so utterly pointless is shocking. That is why people are pissed off.

10k of tax money spent on TD's Christmas Cards

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