A list of "commercially based" charges issued to all TDs and senators by the Oireachtas Commission last week, to apply from the day the election is called until polling day, includes 232 a week for use of Leinster House offices, up to 885 a week for a secretarial assistant and 1,034 for a personal assistant.

The politicians will also be charged 235 a week for the use of computers and other office machinery and a generic charge of 39.53 a week for phone use. The commission said this generic charge is in preference to monitoring members' phones which will "remain deactivated following the dissolution. . . in the interests of maintaining the confidentiality of members' telephone call details".

They will also have to cough up 55c for each Oireachtas pre-paid envelope and 10.87 per 1,000 photocopies. Also, 30,000 copies of a four-page newsletter will set an aspiring TD back 2,323.

The charges will be levied only on TDs using these services for electioneering. Use of such services in their public duties will continue to be free.

TDs will also have to include these charges in their overall election spend, which is legally capped at 30,150 to 45,000 per candidate, depending on the size of the constituency.

Anticipating some blurring of the lines between "electioneering purposes" and "public duties" the commission warned it is up to politicians to ensure their spending stays within the limits. Following legal advice from barristers George Bermingham and Noel Whelan, the commission warned that "members should be aware that, in the event of a legal challenge subsequent to the general election, all candidates. . . will be subject to scrutiny".

The end of the free ride for TDs and senators follows a Supreme Court challenge during the 2002 election by Fianna Fail hopeful in Dublin MidWest, Des Kelly. Kelly argued that the state's failure to include secretarial and postal privileges in Dail deputies' election expenditure gave them an unfair advantage over candidates without access to such privileges. Kelly won in the Supreme Court, but lost in his bid for a seat.