€31,000 was owed to the Oireachtas at the end of August from food and drink served in the Dáil.
An unnamed TD ran up a bar tab of over €1,200 for food and drink in the Dáil in July and August, a period in which the Dáil only sat for eight days.
Figures released to The Sunday Times under freedom of information legislation also revealed that another TD had an outstanding bill of €1,500 by the end of August, a bill that had been unpaid for over two months at that stage.
In total, €31,000 was owed to the Oireachtas for food and drink at the end of August, €950 from politicians who lost their seats in the 2016 General Election and €22,000 that had been unpaid for two months.
52 TDs, the Sunday Times reported, had some form of bar tab, ranging in amounts from €5 to €1,536.40, while at least four TDs were owed money, one of whom was in credit to the tune of a whopping 60 cents.
€5,500 in unpaid bills, some of which were owed since the year 2000, was written off during the summer due to there being “no realistic prospect” of recovering the money.
An Oireachtas spokesperson, in response to a question from The Sunday Times about why the current credit system still exists, said: “Changes to the current credit arrangements are being contemplated. Proposals will be brought to the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission for consideration in due course.”
You can read more in The Sunday Times
here (subscription required).
