At present, the law governing the payment of allowances and the grant of travelling facilities to members of the Oireachtas is contained in four statutes—The Oireachtas (Payment of Members) Act, 1923; the Oireachtas (Payment of Members) (Amendment) Act, 1925; the Oireachtas (Payment of Members) Act, 1928, and the Oireachtas (Payment of Members) Act, 1933. One of the purposes of the present Bill is to consolidate the law in one measure and to carry out the amendments to it which, after consideration of the supplementary report presented by the Shanley Committee of Inquiry into Ministerial and Other Salaries, the Government have decided, are desirable. Under this Bill, it is proposed that, on and after the date of enactment, the allowance to a member of Dáil Eireann shall be at the rate of £40 per month instead of £30 per month, as heretofore. It is also proposed that the allowance to a member of Seanad Eireann shall continue, as at present, to be paid at the rate of £30 per month. Although admittedly, these proposals depart from the majority recommendations in the supplementary report of the Shanley Committee, they are not out of harmony with the views expressed by some members of that committee.
The Government has carefully considered this matter. They are aware that for some years—not merely recently but earlier—there have been strong representations by many Deputies that the allowance paid to them was not sufficient to cover all the expenses involved in the exercise of their responsibilities. It has been pointed out that, with the development of parliamentary government, in this country, with the extension of the Government's activities in many spheres and with the new and improved social services, the demands which have been made upon the time of Deputies, and particularly the demands made upon them arising out of the correspondence they receive, have been growing and, in our view, will continue to grow. Apart altogether from the sittings of the Dáil which recently, except perhaps, in the present year have, I think, been more frequent than they were, say, ten years ago when the allowance was first fixed, there has been an increase in the postage accounts of most Deputies, a heavy increase in their travelling expenses in their constituencies and a considerable number of other uncovered and, possibly, undefinable claims upon Deputies, as well. The Government, after close examination of various suggestions which have been made from time to time for relieving the burden in the respects I have mentioned, have come to the conclusion that the most satisfactory method is to increase the allowances to Deputies. In the case of Senators, the Government have noted and accepted the view of the Shanley Committee that Senators will not necessarily be involved in the same amount of expense as Deputies; but the Government, having regard to the amount of time which many Senators have to give in attending this House and the sacrifices which many of them have to make, particularly those who have to travel long distances, and bearing in mind the necessity for a uniform allowance which should cover not the case of the Senator who has to make the least sacrifice and, perhaps, not the case of the Senator who has to make the greatest sacrifice, but the case of the average Senator, have decided to retain for Senators the present rate of allowance instead of making the reductions recommended by the committee of inquiry.
As these sums are paid to members of the Oireachtas by way of allowance towards meeting the expenses incurred by them in fulfilling their duties as representatives of the people and are not to be regarded as in the nature of payment or salary for these services, it is proposed in this Bill to continue the provisions of the existing law under which the allowance payable to a member of the Oireachtas is exempted from income-tax and it is also proposed to exempt that allowance from any provision in any other statute in relation to the abatement or suspension of pensions. The Bill also continues the existing provision by which the salary of an appointed office, if held by a member of the Oireachtas, is deemed to include the allowance which otherwise would be granted under this Bill.
The Government have decided to amend the statutory provision relating to the commencement of the allowance and travelling facilities in the case of any member of the Oireachtas who is elected or nominated after the passing of the Bill. Having regard to the recommendation of the Shanley Committee and to the representations made by Deputies from time to time, the Government propose that the allowance and travelling facilities shall commence as on and from the date of election or nomination, subject to the condition that within 30 days from that date the member shall, by compliance with the Standing Orders, become entitled to sit in the House to which he was elected or nominated. This latter proviso is intended to guard against the payment of large arrears of allowance in the case of a member who, for no sufficient reason, does not for a prolonged period comply with the Standing Orders entitling him to take his seat. Sub-section (2) of the relevant section—Section 5—in this matter provides accordingly; and in sub-section (3) of that section provision has been made to meet the case of a member who is prevented by illness or some other involuntary or innocent cause from complying with the Standing Orders. It is not necessary to provide in the Bill any definition of the date of election in the case where a member is returned after contest because, in such a case, a member is elected immediately after the close of the poll.
These are the principal features of this Bill apart from those provisions which relate to the increase of travelling facilities for Deputies. In the Shanley report it was suggested that the Minister for Finance might take any powers necessary to enable him to deal specially with cases in which the public interest would be served by enabling Deputies to inspect public works or attend functions to which they might be invited as public representatives. Arising out of the consideration of this suggestion, the Bill provides for the payment of travelling expenses to Deputies or Senators who attend State functions on the invitation of a member of the Government or who, on the invitation of a member of the Government, inspect public works or visit institutions or places or districts. The circumstances in which payment of travelling expenses may be made in each case will be governed by general regulations and the power to make such regulations which is contained in existing Acts is continued in this Bill.
In paragraph 30 of the Supplementary Report of the Committee on Parliamentary Allowances, the point was raised as to whether some provision should be made to cover the cost of journeys undertaken by Deputies within their constituencies in connection with their duties as public representatives. A minority of the committee expressed the opinion that some such provision should be made, but the majority of the committee took the view that the arrangements already made, as provided by Statute and Regulations, were adequate. The grant of free facilities for travelling within constituencies would result in such conditions that it would be a matter of great difficulty to examine claims for recoupment. In the circumstances, the Bill makes no provision for the grant of free travelling facilities within constituencies, but it is the opinion of the Government that the increase in the allowances to Deputies will permit a Deputy to undertake such travelling as is involved in what might be regarded as his normal duties—and that is one of the considerations which has moved us to propose to increase the allowances to Deputies.
To meet a point which has been raised in a few cases, provision is made in this Bill for the payment to a Deputy, who does not reside in his constituency, of travelling expenses between Dublin and any place in his constituency, or between Dublin and his normal place of residence for the time being. On any occasion on which he travels direct from Dublin to any place in his constituency, travelling facilities will be granted from that place to his normal place of residence. When he travels direct from his normal place of residence to his constituency, travelling facilities will be granted between such normal place of residence and, if he enters his constituency by rail, the railway station in his constituency nearest to the point of entry, or, if he enters his constituency by road, the point of entry.
Under Section 10 of the Constitution (Consequential Provisions) Act of 1937 the revival of the Oireachtas (Payment of Members) Act, 1923, so far as Senators are concerned, operates only with effect on and from the date of the first Assembly of Seanad Eireann. This gave rise to the difficulty that Senators who were obliged to travel on the day prior to the first meeting of the new Seanad to attend that meeting could not be granted travelling expenses incurred in coming to Dublin. To meet this difficulty, provision is made in the Bill for the payment of travelling expenses to Senators who found it necessary to travel on the day prior to the first meeting of the new Seanad.
Sub-section (5) of Section 5 of this Bill is new. Under the Oireachtas (Payment of Members) Acts there is no statutory authority for the grant of travelling facilities to members of the Dáil who are in Dublin on the day of a dissolution. In practice, travelling vouchers in the hands of members at the time of a dissolution were honoured if presented at the railway booking office within a period of three days from the date of issue of the voucher. This practice has always been open to challenge, and it seems reasonable that, where former Deputies found themselves in Dublin on the date of the dissolution, they should be provided with travelling facilities to enable them to to return to their homes or to their constituencies within a reasonable time. Three days is provided for this purpose in the Bill. The new sub-section will remove any risk of challenge as to this payment and will do no more than has already been done in practice, in the past. One other sub-section provides that, where travelling expenses have been incurred by a Deputy, he must lodge his claim for recoupment of these expenses within 100 days after such travelling expenses were incurred.
This is the Bill which is now before the Seanad for its Second Reading. I recommend it to the House. I think that, in these days, when it is necessary that all sections of the people—all sections of the country and the State —should be represented in the Oireachtas, and when it is desirable that no man of talent or capacity should be debarred from seeking the suffrages of the people or from seeking a mandate from the people, by reason of the expense to which he may be put as a result of serving in that capacity, this Bill is in the best interests of the community as a whole, and, accordingly, I recommend it to the House.