The chairman of the Oireachtas Finance Committee, Mr Seán Fleming, has called for publication of a monthly account of how Oireachtas members spend their expenses in order, he says, to give the public an accurate picture.
Speaking yesterday after the publication in newspapers of the expenses received by TDs and senators in 2004, Mr Fleming said this only gave the public "half the equation".
He said it should not be necessary for journalists to use the Freedom of Information Act to get this information, saying it should be published monthly or quarterly. The figures show that the 166 TDs received €8.887 million between them in expenses in 2004.
The 60 senators received €2.664 million between them.
The money is spent on a variety of expenses including the cost of renting constituency offices, purchasing office equipment, salaries for secretarial assistance, travel within constituencies and abroad, and overnight accommodation in Dublin for Oireachtas members living outside the capital.
For some members it includes travel and accommodation expenses for regular meetings of the British-Irish Parliamentary Body and the Irish Parliamentary Association.
Mr Fleming said the money to pay for all these things was given directly to the TD and senator, although it is was not a personal benefit to them.
"It's a nonsense way of doing business, but therefore the figures are high," he said.
The highest single amount was €110, 091 paid to Fine Gael Waterford deputy Mr John Deasy. However this was artificially inflated as it contained €48,690 claimed last year for expenses incurred in 2003.
Mr Fleming yesterday agreed to give an account of his spending of expenses to illustrate how they are used.
A Fianna Fáil deputy for Laois/Offaly, Mr Fleming received €78.204.81 for 2004 expenses, putting him 27th in a "league table" of TDs.
He said the cost of running his car for business purposes was around €20, 000 per annum.
This included repayments, petrol and insurance and was based on an annual business mileage of around 40,000 miles, which he runs up by virtue of representing a geographically large constituency.
Other expenses include annual overnight and daily Oireachtas allowances (€14,000), a part-time secretary (€12,000 per annum), repayments on a constituency office he is purchasing under mortgage (€6,000), annual mobile phone, fixed line and fax expenses (€6,000), and office heating, ESB and public liability insurance (€5,000). Other expenses would have included a small number of foreign trips on business, the purchase of a new €2,000 photocopier and some other expenses.
He said the Oireachtas had "an extraordinary way of paying costs. An employee of any organisation may have a secretary, a phone and an office and they are paid for by their employer". He said they had to pay for a secretary, an office, light and heating, and insurance.
"The cheques come to us, but it is of no benefit. If any executive in any organisation was handed the money to pay for their secretary, their phone, their office and insurance, it would put their expenses much higher too."
TDs expenses: Highest 30 claimants in 2004
John Deasy FG (Waterford) €110, 091
Tony Dempsey FF (Wexford) €98,157
Michael Ring FG (Mayo) €92.432
M.J. Nolan FF (Carlow-Kilkenny) €90,344
Gerard Murphy FG (Cork North-West) €88.609
Denis O'Donovan FF (Cork South-West) €87,913
Jimmy Devins FF (Sligo-Leitrim) €87,759
Ned O'Keeffe FF (Cork East) €86,501
Noel Grealish PD (Galway West) €85,937
John Ellis FF (Sligo-Leitrim) €83,231
Enda Kenny FG (Mayo) €83,171
Donie Cassidy FF (Westmeath) €82,156
John Carty FF (Mayo) €82,123
Noel O'Flynn FF (Cork North-Central) €81,571
John McGuinness FF (Carlow-Kilkenny) €81,500
Peter Kelly FF (Longford-Roscommon) €81,244
Batt O'Keeffe FF (Cork South-Central) €80,543
Michael Finneran FF (Longford-Roscommon) €80,257
Tom Hayes FG (Tipperary South) €79,441
Jackie Healy-Rae Ind (Kerry South) €79,381
John Perry FG (Sligo-Leitrim) €79,379
Dan Wallace FF (Cork North Central) €78,818
Seymour Crawford FG (Cavan/Monaghan) €78,436
Billy Kelleher FF (Cork North-Central) €78,371
Pat Breen FG (Clare) €78,302
Michael Moynihan FF (Cork North-West) €78,291
Seán Fleming FF (Laois-Offaly) €78,204
Phil Hogan FG (Carlow-Kilkenny) €78,129
Paddy McHugh Ind (Galway East) €77,102
Paul Kehoe FG (We xford) €76,229