politicians re-pay wrongly claimed expenses

peasant · 15-10-2009 09:44AM #1

Ed Balls (Lab, Normanton) and Yvette Cooper (Lab, Pontefract), who are married, are to repay £13.50 each because of a "miscalculation" of interest claims on their joint mortgage in 2006/07.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/15/mps-expenses-legg-letters

Sadly, they're MP's not TD's

brummytom · 15-10-2009 09:48AM

I really don't see the problem if I'm honest.

I doubt there's many people who, hand on heart, if given the option of half of your lifestyle being paid for, wouldn't fiddle it a bit.

I love how the tabloids think politicians are the scum

ejmaztec · 15-10-2009 10:01AM

brummytom wrote: »

I really don't see the problem if I'm honest.

I doubt there's many people who, hand on heart, if given the option of half of your lifestyle being paid for, wouldn't fiddle it a bit.

I love how the tabloids think politicians are the scum

It takes scum to know scum.:p

segaBOY · 15-10-2009 10:06AM

brummytom wrote: »

I really don't see the problem if I'm honest.

I doubt there's many people who, hand on heart, if given the option of half of your lifestyle being paid for, wouldn't fiddle it a bit.

I love how the tabloids think politicians are the scum

There's a difference between fiddling it a bit and doing a John O' Donoghue on it...not that he's the only one in Leinster House at it.

brummytom · 15-10-2009 10:07AM

Yeah, your ones seem to have gone a bit mad with it all.

Here though, the way MPs have been hounded for a few quid is just pathetic

peasant · 15-10-2009 10:14AM

brummytom wrote: »

Yeah, your ones seem to have gone a bit mad with it all.

Here though, the way MPs have been hounded for a few quid is just pathetic

which do you prefer ...a pathetic society that chases its representatives for £13.50 or the other pathetic society that lets its representatives run up expenses of € 200,000 unchecked and unvouched ?

brummytom · 15-10-2009 10:18AM

peasant wrote: »

which do you prefer ...a pathetic society that chases its representatives for £13.50 or the other pathetic society that lets its representatives run up expenses of € 200,000 unchecked and unvouched ?

You win

Hail 2 Da Chimp · 15-10-2009 10:19AM

brummytom wrote: »

Yeah, your ones seem to have gone a bit mad with it all.

I haven't seen many TD's claiming expenses to have their moats cleaned...

(Well I haven't seen any YET...)

segaBOY · 15-10-2009 10:20AM

Hail 2 Da Chimp wrote: »

I haven't seen many TD's claiming expenses to have their moats cleaned...

(Well I haven't seen any YET...)

Yea but a couple spent 7k to go from one terminal in hethrow to the other, I normally just spare a few grand and take the bus

MKMaguire · 15-10-2009 10:24AM

I like the one .... 'Johnny Cash O'Donoghue' ... goes well !?

Remember we elected them, they set their own rules for themselves and keep everything secret ... and we like sheep just follow. Just one item : Dublin TD's get paid over €50 a day for just 'turning up' at the Dail ... clock in and away!

Euro_Kraut · 15-10-2009 10:27AM

peasant wrote: »

which do you prefer ...a pathetic society that chases its representatives for £13.50 or the other pathetic society that lets its representatives run up expenses of € 200,000 unchecked and unvouched ?

Does it have to be all or nothing? Really there is a middle ground.

I think the expense scandal is great news for lazy journalists. Far easier to go on a rant about O'Donaghue that make a detailed analysis of the upcoming budget.

TDs milked the system. We all knew that system was in place. Newspaper could have requested this information at any stage over the pas 10 years and published. Instead they choose to turn a blind eye to it and are acting all outraged now. For me the media are complicit in the this whole debacle.

MKMaguire · 15-10-2009 10:54AM

"I think the expense scandal is great news for lazy journalists. Far easier to go on a rant about O'Donaghue that make a detailed analysis of the upcoming budget."

As usual blame the messenger ... how you can anyone make a detailed analysis on 'an upcoming budget' ... before the event?

Euro_Kraut · 15-10-2009 11:47AM

MKMaguire wrote: »

As usual blame the messenger ... how you can anyone make a detailed analysis on 'an upcoming budget' ... before the event?

You make predictions about what areas should/could be cut. Where taxes should/shouldn’t be levied. What the potential political fallout would be etc. Assess and analyse the options available to the Government. This type of journalism is sadly lacking in Ireland.

I'm not 'blaming the messenger' per say, but I am accusing them of be silent on this issue for far too long. Leo Varakar raised this on Prime Time last week that the Independent had the FAS story for ages but sat on it because journalist in that newspaper group themselves were often guests on the these lavish FAS trips.

One of the reasons Politicans felt they could get away with this kind of thing (not that it makes it right) was because they knew the media were too soft to run with the stories.

orourkeda · 15-10-2009 12:23PM

It's only because they got caught.

I think we can all safely assume they are not doing this out of the kindness of their hearts

Hail 2 Da Chimp · 15-10-2009 12:41PM

Euro_Kraut wrote: »

I'm not 'blaming the messenger' per say, but I am accusing them of be silent on this issue for far too long. Leo Varakar raised this on Prime Time last week that the Independent had the FAS story for ages but sat on it because journalist in that newspaper group themselves were often guests on the these lavish FAS trips.

One of the reasons Politicans felt they could get away with this kind of thing (not that it makes it right) was because they knew the media were too soft to run with the stories.

Thats a good point, I also believe there's a certain amount of "lets see how long we can drag this out" by the papers. I'd say it's only a matter of time before they target someone else - I'm guessing Harney next (can you imagine how much she spends on dining out), I also believe she's supposed to have mounted up a serious amount of expenses as well.

The expenses scandal will get old - politicians will promise change, they'll make a token gesture, we'll forget about it due to crippling debt, they'll get off the hook...

Capt'n Midnight · 15-10-2009 01:35PM

Hail 2 Da Chimp wrote: »

I haven't seen many TD's claiming expenses to have their moats cleaned...

(Well I haven't seen any YET...)

IIRC one of the ministers for Justice got a security wall built around his house. Except it was only about 3 foot high so it was just cosmetic.

admiralofthefleet · 15-10-2009 02:21PM

a horse just won at punchestown that is part owned by brian cowen

politicians re-pay wrongly claimed expenses

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