Politicians pocket €2k for phone fees scrapped last year
Senators and TDs claiming €25-a-day mobile expenses while abroad – even though roaming charges were axed
POLITICIANS are being paid a €25per-day telephone allowance when travelling in Europe despite the abolition of roaming charges in the European Union.
The unvouched payment – known as the daily telephone allowance – was brought in when users could incur sky-high fees when taking calls or checking emails outside Ireland.
However, roaming charges were scrapped midway through June of last year under an EU deal.
Since then, more than €2,000 has been claimed through the daily telephone allowance by 20 different TDs and Senators. Two of them have suggested the allowance should be examined with one saying it doesn’t really ‘make any sense’ any more. Fine Gael Senator Catherine Noone said: ‘Now that roaming charges are gone, people probably shouldn’t claim it. I’m not exactly up to date with how the charges work but if they’re completely gone, then the allowance should be gone. ‘It’s an allowance that we get and it’s for a time when phones were more expensive. Things don’t change that quickly and you kind of get into a habit when filling out forms. You’d have incidental expenses that you didn’t put receipts in for. ‘If you’re covered overall, you don’t mind. But we do pay for so many things we don’t get recouped for.” Ms Noone twice claimed €50 via the allowance in October and December last year for trips to Liverpool and London. Her colleague Frank Feighan, who claimed €325 during five trips away between September and November last year, said he also believes the Oireachtas should look at its continued payment.
He added: ‘I was looking at that myself – I had been tied into a contract with Vodafone for €150-amonth, which was quite expensive. Maybe it is time to phase it out because the new roaming came in and it could be looked at again.’
Fianna Fáil Senator Terry Leyden insisted it was a matter for the Oireachtas to set rates after he claimed €225 on trips to Brussels, Liverpool and Tallinn.
He said: ‘I don’t know what the procedure is, if you are charged when people ring you, I’m not sure. I’ve no comment to make on [the allowance] one way or another. That’s a matter for the Oireachtas, I don’t set any of the rates, they are responsible for those.’
In a statement, a spokeswoman for the Oireachtas said it was not up to the legislature to set rates of expenses for politicians and was instead a matter for the Department of Public Expenditure (DPER).
She added: ‘You would need to send that query to DPER as that is the department responsible for rates and allowances.’
However, the department said it is not their job either and that operation of the allowance was ‘a matter for the Oireachtas’.
A spokesman insisted it is only responsible for setting rates: ‘In 2001, there were separate rates in place to compensate for phone charges – €7.62 (£6) for the UK, €12.70 for the rest of Europe and an elsewhere rate of €17.78 (£14).
‘With effect from 1 January 2001, a vouched single rate of €50.79 (£40) irrespective of the location abroad was introduced.
‘In 2007, an unvouched rate of €25 per day was introduced. The vouched single rate of €50.79 remained in place.”
A total of 32 claims have been made for the telephone allowance since roaming charges were phased out on June 15 last year.
Claims ranged from just €25 for a single day of travel up to €125, with no evidence of expenditure required to back them up.
Many of the trips involved were to the UK, or EU cities such as Strasbourg, Vienna, Brussels and Paris.
‘People probably shouldn’t claim it’ ‘Maybe it’s time to phase it out’
ANYONE who took a holiday within the EU last year surely received a very pleasant surprise to arrive home and find that mobile phone calls and data that once cost a fortune now were free. The abolition of roaming charges is one of the most visible and rewarding initiatives ever taken by politicians in Brussels.
The only people who don’t seem to have noticed are our politicians. They are still entitled to claim €25 a day for roaming in Europe, and 20 TDs and senators have done so since the charges were abolished.
When challenged on this, the stock responses either were that they were entitled to it and therefore would claim it – or that the expenses system is not of their making and it is someone else’s responsibility to change it.
The €2,000 claimed so far might seem a paltry figure in the scheme of things, but at a time when millions struggle to pay their bills, it sends out a clear message that our representatives just don’t care.