Madigan and her expenses

FG have made sure that SIPO have no powers. Paschal said he would fix this when he was found to be fiddling but he never bothered. They are all at it. Dara Murphy (FG) showed them how.

The amount The Ditch are claiming might be dodgy - and they have no evidence they are - wouldn't make a councillor resign let alone a Minister

She wanted Europe and didn't get selected, that's going to be a major element of why she's going

Nope. Leo asked him to and he ignored Leo. Great message to the others. Pure theft.

There are much easier ways to make money than being a politician.

Yes there are plenty, in fact the vast majority of them claim only that to which they are entitled.

Why are you making them all out to be chancers ?

At the same time you could get "cheap printer ink" in the Dublin 12 area.

The Ditch also posted a TD didn't have car tax. 😂

Really do you care about the Ditch, the most biased media outlet in Ireland.

You would be better off picking something which is a little less biased if you want to read politics

Yes, I know. It’s just the sickening greed and entitlement. Really is an awful trait.

Really?

As I posted once they become a TD they can hire staff, the big issue with this before was hiring family members. THe healy Rae clan are famous for this with every aunt/uncle/cousin etc all on pay roll of government. Well it would seem so

In the case of Madigan do you really think she sits down at the end of day and does her expenses or her admin staff?

For all the hype from The Ditch, who are aware of this I bet, they are getting some lowly admin person in trouble

Well done The Ditch and Paddy Cosgrove, they really are leading the push in Irish politics 😂

It's taxpayers money so why bother being thorough in tracking it all. Shur the lads might need the extra cash and all.

The days when expenses were tax free and high limits.Bliss

If I submitted 2k of false Miles I would be deemed untrusted in my profession and the appropriate warning leading up to sacking would be expected

It's a really bad thing to do and obviously that's not cascaded down to the tds and senators

It means you're a lying deceitful untrustworthy idiot

I haven't seen proof they were false though. It's a very vague allegation. And I really don't like her, glad to see her gone.

No pattern of behaviour? According to the Ditch she's been submitting apparently dodgy expenses claims every August (when she's had little/no official business) for several years. Looks like a pattern to me.

Not just Madigan either - they've also published similar stories re a number of other politicians (i.e. claiming expenses when they're off on their hollibobs in August).

According to the story as printed in the Ditch, the mileage claims were specifically submitted as ministerial business, despite there seeming to be a dearth of such business actually happening. They refer to the claims being made from the "ministerial mileage scheme" (and paid by the Department of Education) which presumably is separate from day to day TD claims.

Edit: more detail on the scheme at the end of the article:

"Ministers can claim tax-free mileage expenses for ministerial work, which is considered distinct from their constituency work as TDs, as part of a scheme introduced by government in 1983."

2000km in a month.

That's not a lot of driving.

Constituency work etc. I suppose the question is whether the minimum level is put in even if the car is up on blocks

I read an article yesterday that she made Leo aware of her intention to resign last summer?

Potentially zero

lives in Dublin, works in Dublin, lives in her constituency that she serves. Dáil Éireann is about a 17 kilometre return trip.

that’s a LOT of driving for one month…

Do you think a tax disk out on a TD car is big news?

I certainly don't.

"tax taken from every payslip to pay for these lads", well first off it's lad and ladies, plus the tax taken pay for a number of things including TD wages.

Well in reality if you knew the actual story it was not his car, it was his wife's car. The TD had a government car.

Just read the headline and never the story it would seem. Common issue

Don't get me wrong, people should pay their car tax, I do. But a media source running this as headline news is just the type of nonsense we are seeing now across the media and worse again lapped up by people who "get the jist" of the story and then run with it.

Do you honestly think they are going to post your name in the paper for not paying car tax? 😂