asked the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs the reasons for the change in practice whereby letters addressed to Members of the Oireachtas at Leinster House were accepted without stamps.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Oireachtas Members' Correspondence.
153.
Letters addressed to Members of the Oireachtas do not qualify for free postage and the great majority are in fact prepaid. Those on which postage is not paid or is underpaid are liable to surcharge, and where such letters have been delivered without charge, this has been due to an oversight.
In view of the fact that the vast majority are prepaid and only a very small number require stamping, would the Minister not make an exception in the case of this small number? Surely if they go free to Departments a fortiori they should go free in this case.
I cannot accept the Deputy's suggestion.
Would the Minister not agree there are times when some people have to write to Deputies about matters in connection with Government Departments and these people might well be in a position in which they may not be able to provide stamps? Would the Minister not agree that if a letter is addressed to a TD there should not be a strict adherence to the letter of the regulation?
The Deputy is opening up a new field altogether. If he wants free postage to all Deputies then he should take the matter up with the proper authorities. It is not my function to provide free postage on all letters to Deputies in this House.
As the Minister is aware, a number of Deputies frequently receive letters which are unstamped and have to pay 8p a go and could he not make it fairly widely known to the public that this is not the correct practice?
I should like to point out that earlier this year it came under notice that some unpaid correspondence addressed to Members of the Oireachtas at Leinster House was not being surcharged. To the best of my recollection, a certain Member of this House sent out an unlimited number of circulars to his constituents, addressed envelopes——
Christmas cards.
One Parliamentary Secretary sent out 37,000.
Order.
A certain Deputy in this House—this is my recollection —addressed envelops to himself and sent them to his constituents; he was doing some sort of poll, or something like that. A two-day examination in February last showed that 300 items were fully paid and 45 were unpaid or underpaid, so the percentage is not as high as the Deputy said.