Madam- The current debate concerning Oireachtas expenses reminded me of some correspondence that I encountered during the course of my research in the National Archives several years ago.
The letters consisted of a series of heated exchanges during the Civil War between a prominent government minister and the Department of Finance relating to expenses and income tax matters.
Writing to the finance secretary on August 1st 1922, Minister for Economic Affairs Kevin O'Higgins noted that in addition to ministerial salaries, it was his understanding that "each minister should receive £20 per month to cover such necessary expenses pertaining to this position as motor hire, entertaining, first-class railway fare, etc."
O'Higgins wanted the matter raised with the Minister for Finance as he felt that the sum of £131 he was being charged in income tax "in addition to the heavy expenses attaching of necessity to the position is to my mind excessive and the spectacle of a minister unable to meet promptly his lawful debts is not calculated to increase the prestige of the Government".
The cash-starved minister had begun his fruitless correspondence with the Department of Finance a day earlier in an effort to recover "any (or all) of the £26 stopped by the Treasury from my June salary" as he had "some rather heavy commitments in the offing".
Finally, irony and humour intermingle with the revelation that a Minister for Economic Affairs felt compelled to declare that "the mysterious ways of the Treasury - its silent and sudden swoops on my resources - are getting somewhat on my nerves." - Yours, etc.
FRANK BOUCHIER-HAYES, Gortboy, Newcastle West, Co Limerick.