The use of a TD's office in Leinster House, including electricity and heating, has been valued at €230 a week by the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission in a set of guidelines prepared for the forthcoming general election, The Irish Timeshas learned.
Once the election is over, the commission, comprising members of both Houses, will be seeking recompense from TDs for the use of Leinster House facilities and staff as part of their re-election campaign.
It will be left to the discretion of the individual TD to decide how much of his/her use of Oireachtas staff and facilities was devoted to the campaign and how much was for normal everyday political purposes.
Commission sources told The Irish Times that, if a TD decided that 50 per cent of his or her use of Oireachtas facilities was devoted to the three-week campaign, then half the cost of the office plus half the salary of the PA (personal assistant) and the secretary, plus half the cost of telephone calls, faxes, stationery and postage, would have to be declared as an election expense and paid back to the commission.
This would mean that an outgoing TD would have to pay €345 for the use of the office; approximately €2,400 towards the salaries for a staff of two (PA and secretary) for three weeks; plus half the cost of whatever phone calls were made and letters sent from the office during that period.
The other option was to take the Westminster route and close TDs' offices during the the campaign but commission members felt this would be inappropriate. The commission has been deliberating on the matter since last year and has now issued a report which is being circulated to Oireachtas members.
In addition, the cost of using Oireachtas facilities for the purposes of the general election will be included when a candidate's overall election spending is calculated. This will impose an increased responsibility on candidates to ensure they do not exceed the maximum limits on election expenditure per candidate, which are as follows: €30,150 in a three-seat constituency; €37,650 in a four-seater; €45,200 in a five-seater.
The guidelines were prepared in response to court cases where the use of publicly-funded services and facilities by sitting TDs, Senators and Ministers for the purposes of a general election campaign was legally challenged.
A High Court judgment arising from the Des Kelly case taken prior to the last election found that the use of public property, services or facilities for electoral purposes following the dissolution of the Dáil must be regarded as an election expense. Mr Kelly was an unsuccessful Fianna Fáil candidate in Dublin Mid-West.