Seanad votes against vouched leaders' expenses

gurramok

That unelected* quango decides against vouched expenses for political leaders.
*as in vast majority of us have no vote

Ain't it great that they can claim what they like without scrutiny? Gravy train continues! Unreal.:mad:

I wonder which political grouping was against vouched expenses.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0215/expenses.html

An amendment to electoral legislation, which would have required receipts to be provided for party leaders' allowances, has been defeated in the Seanad by 31 votes to 20.

The amendment to the political funding legislation was put forward by the Independent group in the Seanad.

It would have required the party leaders' allowances to be vouched and reported to the Standards in Public Office Commission.

Fromthetrees

Hmmm, spit on floor, spark up cig, sip of tea, close boards window, open up youtube, listen to songs.

Liam Byrne

They're not exactly giving those who think they're a "necessary watchdog" much to work with, are they ?

Havermeyer

Turkeys voting for Christmas comes to mind.

Zebra3

Meanwhile anyone struggling to get by who picks up a tenner they're not entitled to is a criminal. :rolleyes:

Freddie59

gurramok wrote: »

That unelected* quango decides against vouched expenses for political leaders.
*as in vast majority of us have no vote

Ain't it great that they can claim what they like without scrutiny? Gravy train continues! Unreal.:mad:

I wonder which political grouping was against vouched expenses.
http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0215/expenses.html

Goes to show: doesn't matter who's in power. Enda said taxing people's homes was "morally unjust" and that he would dismantle the Seanad. Gets into power. Power corrupts, etc.

Until it's made legally binding to stick by your election "promises" then nothing will ever, ever change. Those charged with change will be the ones most affected by it - so nothing will change. Who watches the watchers?

humanji

Zebra3 wrote: »

Meanwhile anyone struggling to get by who picks up a tenner they're not entitled to is a criminal. :rolleyes:

They are criminals.

SEPT 23 1989

This is another example of why i wont lift the phone to Welfare to report fraud

mawk

politicians vote not to **** in their own back yard??






frankly I'm shocked.

Will I Amnt

Give them all an extra 3 grand a year for petrol/diesel and tell them to f**k off with their expenses.
What are the wages for if they don't have to put their hand in their own pocket for anything????

Seachmall

That's what happens when you ask people who think they're entitled to everything to regulate themselves.

Ghandee

When those who make the law, break the law, it gives the rest of us the entitlement to say fcuk the law imo.

gurramok

More info http://www.thejournal.ie/government-blocks-seanad-move-to-abolish-unvouched-independents-allowance-356521-Feb2012/

This says it affects Indo senators yet the RTE story says it affects all party leaders

THE GOVERNMENT has blocked proposals from independent senators which would have required non-party TDs and Senators to vouch for how they spend their ‘leaders’ allowance’.

The proposal, tabled by the independent Taoiseach’s nominees led by Fiach Mac Conghail, was defeated by 31 votes to 20.

The proposal took the form of an amendment to legislation currently going through the Seanad, under which political parties will lose their public funding if they do not put forward a certain proportion of female candidates for election.

The Standards in Public Office Commission, the political ethics watchdog, has repeatedly recommended that the current system – where independent TDs and Senators are not required to account for how they spend the allowance – be overhauled.

Independent TDs are paid €41,152 a year under the allowance, while independent Senators are given €23,383.

The payment is intended to assist non-party members of the Oireachtas who do not have the backing of a political party to pay for services like hiring PR agencies and secretarial help.

Similar payments are made by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform to political parties, on account of the number of members that they have in the Dáil or Seanad.

David Norris was the only one of the 11 non-party senators who voted to keep the current arrangements, alongside Fine Gael and Labour.

Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin voted in favour of the amendment, alongside the four other University senators (John Crown, Seán Barrett, Feargal Quinn and Rónán Mullen) and the Taoiseach’s nominees of Mac Conghail, Jillian van Turnhout, Mary Ann O’Brien and Katherine Zappone.

Earlier this week TheJournal.ie revealed how new rules governing a separate allowance, the Public Representation Allowance, meant the unvouched leaders’ allowance was open to abuse by independent members.

The new rules mean that spending on secretarial and PR agencies is now covered under both expenses regimes – and because the leaders’ allowance is not vouched, members who were previously paying for PR agencies under the leaders’ allowance can now claim it against their Leinster House allowance and keep the refund for themselves.

ilovesleep

Any other nation would protest this to make a change because it is the only way in my opinion to let your views be known. Instead here people might send a disappointed email to a politician or two where more than likey it would end up in a spam folder.

Anyways, if a manager was to behave like this in a company allowing employees unvouched expenses and effectively leaving it open to abuse, the manager would be hauled in front of a team of directors or whatever. He/she would be answerable to someone anyways. He/she would be given a warning for such carelessness and perhaps sacked.

Now, we are the employers of these politicians. With every weekly/fortnightly/monthly paypack you pay a percentage in tax and a small percentage would go towards their pay. We are their employers. This carry on will never stop until we hold them accountible. It is us that needs to make that change in protest. Doubt marching would do much good. I'd be more in favour of a silent protest - strike. Nobody else will do it.