Sir, – Jason Power (September 12th) calls on our other 165 TDs to follow the lead of the Labour deputy for Dublin South West in claiming no expenses whatever. While it is certainly Eamonn Maloney’s prerogative to forego expenses if he feels he can afford it, it does not follow that every elected politician, regardless of means, should do the same.
We expect TDs to maintain constituency offices, to hold clinics, to travel to and from Leinster House, and to spend part of their week living away from their primary residences. If they are to do all of this on their (now much-reduced) salaries, it serves to make politics the preserve of the moneyed elite. Furthermore, it reinforces the pre-dominance of the Pale in Irish life, since a Dublin TD such as deputy Maloney necessarily incurs less expense in travelling to and from Kildare Street than do any of our provincial representatives.
The “obvious” solution is not to abolish the system of expenses, but to make it wholly-vouched, and much more transparent. To do otherwise is to introduce a means-test at the door of government. – Yours, etc,