TD defends U-turn on €9k travel allowance saying ‘I’m no martyr’

A FIANNA Fáil TD who had originally waived a €9,000-a-year tax-free travel allowance has now decided to take it.

After being elected, Dublin South West Deputy John Lahart opted not to claim the €750-amonth unvouched travel and accommodation benefit, having not claimed taken expenses while serving as a county councillor.

However, he admitted that the cost of national politics had proved greater than he had anticipated and so decided to reverse the waiver.

He is not the first Dublin-based TD to find it hard to manage without the allowance. Eoghan Murphy, now a Minister, reversed his waiver a year after he was first elected in 2011.

Just two Dublin TDs – Sinn Féin’s Eoin Ó Broin and Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan – now decline the €9,000 allowance.

Mr Lahart said: ‘I’m not being a martyr about it. I entered into this thing with sincerity but compared to being a councillor, there are an awful lot more outgoings. I said I would see how it works out and it just wasn’t working out. While it’s a Dublin constituency, it’s quite large by Dublin standards and two-thirds of it is actually rural.’