This article is from page 4 of the 2011-02-01 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 4 JPG
IN LAUNCHING his campaign to be elected to the 31st Dáil, Independent candidate Cllr James Breen has told The Clare People that expenses for TDs should be “abolished altogether”, forcing them to live off their salary € 90,000 a year.
Cllr Breen, who became the only Independent to top the poll in a Clare election in 2002 and the first nonparty member to be elected in the county in 54 years, has called for the abolition of expenses as part of “a complete reform of government”, both at national and local level.
“It’s not an election gimmick,” Cllr Breen told The Clare People this week. “There has to be a complete reform of politics, a meaningful reform of government and that includes Dáil and county council level.
“There are 166 TDs in Dáil Éireann. That’s too much. Dáil representation should be reduced.
“The Senate should be meaningfully reformed or abolished. The numbers of county councillors should be reduced.
“We should reduce the numbers of foreign conferences that’s costing the country millions of euros every year. We should reduce Dáil expenses and abolish them altogether and oblige TDs to live on their salary with no expenses,” added Cllr Breen.
The Clare County Council website, which publishes county councillors’ expenses on-line, shows that Cllr Breen claimed € 28,739.89 from June 2009, when he was re-elected to the local authority, to June 2010.
This figure includes his basic salary of € 8,361.96 for the last six months of 2009 and € 9,717.75 for 2010. During the 12 months he also claimed € 4,368.61 for attending conferences, while he availed of the annual allowances in those two six month periods of € 2442.13 in 2009 and € 2,947.44 in 2010.
“We need openness and transparency in government, which we haven’t had over the last number of years,” continued Cllr Breen in championing a overhaul of the expenses regime. “The TD earns nearly three times the average wage of people and they should be able to live on that. The person driving to and from Shannon working on the average industrial wage is getting no travelling time.
“I have no qualms if expenses are abolished in the morning. It’s not a gimmick to get elected. It’s something I believe in,” added Cllr Breen.
During his five years in Dáil Éireann from 2002 to 2007, Cllr Breen was entitled to the Independent TDs allowance. Currently the allowance given to Independent members of the Dáil is over € 40,000 per annum.