I take it this Supplementary Estimate is to provide a sum of £5,000 to enable a sum of £40,000 to be paid during the present financial year in respect of the travelling expenses of Deputies. I should have hoped that the Minister would have given to the Dáil some specific details in regard to the expenditure of that sum. As a matter of fact, much as I would like to deal with it, I find I am hampered by not having the information.
Like Gaul, the Dáil is divided into three parts. We have the Ministers, the Parliamentary Secretaries, the Deputies who reside in Dublin, and the Deputies who do not reside in Dublin. As Deputies know, Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries are not entitled to any sum, at least, as I understand it, out of this £40,000. Deputies like myself who reside in Dublin are not paid any travelling expenses whatsoever and, with the exception of the parliamentary allowance that is made available for us, we receive no sum, good, bad or indifferent, from the Exchequer in regard to our membership of the Dáil. We are left, then, with a sum of £40,000 which should be explained in some detail, if even in the broadest detail, to the Dáil.
What I am anxious to know is: how much of that money for travelling expenses is paid in respect of attendance at the Dáil when the Dáil is sitting and how much is paid in respect of travelling to Dublin from constituencies when the Dáil is not sitting? Without that information I find it somewhat difficult to discuss the motion now brought before the House by the Minister.
There are charges on this particular sub-head in regard to travelling which perhaps might be saved and could be saved. I will instance one matter. If I have to communicate with any Minister or Parliamentary Secretary and do so by telephone or by letter, as I do and do successfully, it costs me a matter of 3d. for a stamp on the letter, and the telephone call is somewhat cheaper—I leave out of calculation the envelope and the stationery I use. If, however, instead of sending a letter or telephoning, I travel a distance of 100 miles to see the Minister, the cost is a great deal higher, and I want to know if that is justifiable. I want to know if, in fact, expenses are paid to Deputies for travelling to see a Minister when a letter or telephone message would do. I think the House would be interested in that matter and that the public would be interested, too.
When Dáil Éireann was established and when certain allowances were prescribed and provided by law there was then the conception of service by a Deputy or Senator as being part-time, voluntary service except, of course, in the case of Parliamentary Secretaries and Ministers who are whole-time servants of the community and in my view do a tremendous amount of responsible work for which they are very badly remunerated by the people. But the question of the Deputy is different. He accepts service in this House to look after his constituents, to deal with——