Ex-senator paid €4k by new senator for training and advice
Singer Frances Black paid FG’s outgoing Jillian van Turnhout to show her the ropes in the Seanad
FORMER senator Jillian van Turnhout was paid almost €4,000 by another member of the Seanad last year for training, consultancy and advice she provided in relation to legislation.
The children’s rights advocate, who was nominated to the Seanad by Enda Kenny in 2011, was entitled to termination payments of almost €24,000 when her five-year term finished last April.
But Ms van Turnhout also received a total of €3,850 under a publicly-funded allowance from Frances Black, who was among the 11 Taoiseach’s nominees who succeeded her in the Seanad in 2016.
Ms Black, a well-known folk singer, used the Parliamentary Activities Allowance (PAA) to pay three amounts to Ms van Turnhout for consultancy and training in relation to the legislative process.
The allowance is available to independent senators and TDs for use on items arising from their parliamentary activities, such as technical or specialist advice, research and training, and polling or attitude sampling.
According to the PAA expenditure return filed by Ms Black, €1,850 was paid to Ms van Turnhout for consultancy services in relation to the Public Health Alcohol Bill, which she had supported during her term in the Seanad.
A further €1,200 was paid for advice relating to the same legislation, while she received another €800 for ‘training on legislative process’ provided to Ms Black.
Ms van Turnhout (49) was recently appointed to carry out a review of the gay rights charity, GLEN, after its chairman resigned over concerns that his own unsuccessful Seanad campaign had been run from the charity’s office.
The organisation backed the campaign of Kieran Rose to the tune of €11,500, and help that he received from the charity was not disclosed to SIPO, the State’s political standards watchdog.
Ms van Turnhout’s PAA expenditure return for 2016 shows she incurred no expenses under the allowance during that period, except for €639.60 to an accountant to audit her blank return.
She told the Mail on Sunday the decision to engage an auditor, despite having no expenses to report, was taken on the advice of former minister, Brendan Howlin.
‘I did enquire [about the] use of an auditor as I did not think it should be necessary,’ she said.
Ms van Turnhout was advised in a letter seen by the MoS that the legislation governing the allowance required her return to be audited, and didn’t leave scope for SIPO to waive this requirement.
In relation to her consultancy work for Senator Black, Ms van Turnhout said that she had started working as a consultant after leaving the Seanad last April.
Ms van Turnhout said she had a track record of returning unspent funds, even before changes to the PAA introduced this requirement.
A spokesperson for SIPO confirmed that legislation imposes a requirement for audited stateheadings ments to be provided by anyone who avails of Exchequer funding, although it was of the view that those submitting blank returns should not be subject to this.
The news comes as it was revealed last week that €635,000 was spent by Oireachtas members under the PAA in 2016.
Most of this was used under the of research, training, policy formulation and consultancy services.
However, 22 of the 43 members who were eligible for the PAA also claimed expenses totalling €35,345 for entertainment, which is an allowable category.
These included bar tabs and food bills from exclusive hotels, wine bars and restaurants such as the five-star Westbury Hotel, the Exchequer Wine Bar, and Rustic Stone – a restaurnt run by celebrity chef, Dylan McGrath.
€800 for ‘training on legislative process’ ‘I did not think it should be necessary’