Dear Sir,

As we await in trepidation what the Government is going to impose on us in the coming budget we should carefully take note of the continuing reluctance by the Government to curb unnecessary and perhaps fraudulent expense claims by public servants being honoured. When Bertie in his hey-day told the nation of his intention to construct a bowl, little did we realise that it would turnout to be a begging bowl. Since the commencement of this year, there has been 7 or 8 fully staffed begging missions, 4 or 5 to the USA, 2 to China and 1 to Japan and all came back empty handed.

Our hasty rush to refinance our near collapsed banking system has resulted in the banks using that money to pay off their international indebtedness rather than helping local businesses to develop, and any surplus left over from the bail out is gobbled up by the cost of our over staffed public service and that includes TD’s and senators. The extent of that cost and their type of claims was exposed in an editorial in the Sunday Times 28/10/12 and I expect in many other newspapers.

TD’s are expected to attend 120 sittings of the Dail per annum for which, on top of their salaries, they are allowed to claim €296 daily which amounts to a maximum of €37,850. There is even what they call a reconciliation scheme which allows the chief whip of absent TD’s to book them present in order to prevent them from suffering a reduction in their standard of living. The media has given coverage to the number of families who are struggling to make ends meet and who are so short of funds that a bowl of cornflakes is the main course at each of their meals. €296 daily would provide them with 80 large boxes of cornflakes.

Newspapers like the Sunday Times are widely read throughout the world and its editorial puts on display to its readers how our Government manages its affairs. If one is met in the street by a woman with a fag in her mouth and a can of beer in one hand and a begging bowl in the other you are unlikely to contribute, but if the woman with the begging bowl is carrying a crying child you are likely to be more sympathetic. In Ireland our Government ignores the woman with the crying baby and showers the one with the fag and the beer can with cash.

In October, seven companies crying out for cash went bankrupt every day because they were ignored. The banking collapse was an example of the stupidity and greed of both bankers and politicians and only an independent inquiry will release the facts. For years we have talked about reducing the cost of Government by cutting down on the number of TD’s and senators and clearing the rubbish out of our civil service, but there has been no serious action.

The quality of our education system has deteriorated and so has the quality of those admitted to the civil service. Curbing the liberties and excesses of our members of the Dail is well overdue and its time we took matters in to our own hands. It is now apparent that the powers that should be doing this are lacking in courage or they are just as bad as the rest of them. I am proposing that each member of the Dail should be asked by members of his constituency to provide them with a detailed breakdown of the expenses he has claimed and been remunerated for. Individuals from each constituency should choose random months to prevent any doctoring and they can have the opportunity of exposing any wrongdoing.

How could an honest TD purchase expensive cufflinks and after-shave lotion etc., and put it in his claim. No member of the Dail should be spared and let the newspapers know what you find. All unvouched expense claims need to be scrutinised and it seems that it is left to you and I to do it.

Thank you,

Richard Prendergast,

Mondaniel,

Rathcormac.