BEVERLEY Flynn may have quite rightly been on the receiving end of strong criticism for initially refusing to give up her €41,000 independent TD's allowance, but the whole system of remuneration and expenses for the country's politicians is equally deserving of close scrutiny.

Politics has become a gravy train, which is utterly inappropriate at a time when the country is going to have to borrow around €20 billion this year to make ends meet.

If it is true that An Bord Snip Nua will be turning its attention to the expenses, allowances and pensions racked up by our politicians, the body will find fertile territory for savings. The only difficulty will be in deciding where to begin.

One potential starting point is the system whereby ministerial pensions get paid to serving politicians. A staggering 32 serving politicians – TDs, senators and MEPs – are in receipt of pensions from their time in ministerial or other office. The cost to the exchequer is well over €500,000 a year – more than 12 times the amount paid to Beverley Flynn which caused so much indignation last week.

Under arrangements introduced in 1993, there is some restriction on serving politicians drawing down their ministerial pension. Pensions are – to use the department of finance's term – "abated" by one-half "for as long as the recipient remains in the Dáil, Seanad or European Parliament."

However, the enormous rise in ministerial salaries over the past decade, and an increase in the percentage of income to which a former minister is entitled in pension payments, more than compensates for this.

The size of the pension is directly linked to the length of time a politician spends in ministerial office, starting at 20% of salary for two years in office and rising to 60% for 10 or more years. If the government collapsed in the morning, around half of the outgoing cabinet would be immediately entitled to ministerial pensions of €60,000, on top of their TDs' salaries, even with their pensions being "abated" because they remained in the Dáil.

The unique expenses regime for TDs and senators – whereby mileage, overnight and daily allowances are payable on an unvouched-for basis – also demands immediate reform. The Revenue Commissioners would not tolerate this in the private sector, so why are politicians treated differently?

Former finance minister Charlie McCreevy updated the regulations a decade ago to allow all TDs and senators claim mileage for travel by car to and from Leinster House, even when they travel by public transport or share a car. They had actually been claiming illegally for expenses, but in a classic Irish solution to an Irish problem, instead of forcing politicians to comply, the law was changed.

Although TDs are well paid – earning salaries of over €100,000 – expenses per TD work out at an average of €65,000 a year. Given that the Dáil sits for less than 100 days a year, that works out at €650 per TD per sitting day in expenses alone. This outlandish, untaxed figure doesn't include the allowances TDs get for telephones, computers and so on.

An Bord Snip Nua should also have a look at the myriad potential extra stipends available to TDs. Ludicrously, there are more than 20 Oireachtas committees – less than half that number is required – that need chairpersons (€26,000 plus a year), vice chairpersons (around €10,000) and whips (€6,000). TDs also serve on nine subcommittees, and their chairpersons get a payment of around €6,000.

Allowances are also paid to the various party whips and assistant whips. The assistant government whip gets over €15,000 a year, as does the Labour whip, while the Fine Gael whip gets over €19,000. The whips of the smaller parties each get around €6,000, while assistant whips of all the parties get payments of between €4,237 and over €9,747.
The PDs, with two TDs, are technically eligible for a whip and an assistant whip.

It is little wonder that it is believed that there are just two government TDs who don't enjoy some kind of perk in this 'jobs for the boys' environment.

Any government serious about setting an example in the current stringent times would also reduce the 20 junior ministerial positions, all of which come with extra allowances, cars and drivers and pensions.

Ministers did take a 10% pay cut in the budget and received little credit for it. But that can only be the first step towards bringing the remuneration and expenses of politicians into line with the rest of the working population.