FG to get Lion's share of €14m in Taxpayer Funds

[ang]

It's not yet clear if the ULA will be entitled to any of this funding as they failed to register as a political party on time.


FINE Gael is set to get the lion's share of the annual pot of almost €14m in taxpayer funding for political parties.

The party will get a bigger parliamentary party leader's allowance because it will now have far more TDs than Fianna Fail -- and its increased share of the national vote will see it get a bigger percentage of other Exchequer funding for political parties.

It is expected to receive at least €5m in total, with Labour and Sinn Fein also set to gain.

But Fianna Fail's share of state funding is expected to drop substantially from €5.1m down to about €2.8m in the wake of its electoral wipeout.

The 13 Independent TDs elected so far will all be entitled to claim a €41,152 "party leaders' allowance" -- which is paid annually over the five-year Dail term -- on top of their €92,000 salary.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/elections/latest-news/fg-to-get-lions-share-of-euro14m-in-taxpayer-funds-2560169.html

[Spectabilis]

These funds are accounted for to Sipo and annual reports are published. The most recent is 2009.
I had a look at the headings under which the funds may be used:
http://www.sipo.gov.ie/en/Reports/StateFinancing/FundingreceivedunderPartyLeadersLegislation/191208-ReportonexpenditureofthePartyLeadersAllowance2007/Name,9432,en.htm

The fund is based on a sort of headage payment per TD elected: €71,520 for the first ten, €57,214 for the next twenty; €28,616 for the remainder.

There are 11 headings for allowable costs including:

General administration
Research and training
Support services
Policy formulation
Consultancy and PR services
Polling and attitude sampling
Honoraria to Leader or other member of parliamentary party
Travel expenses and entertainment

Claiming our future have a petition under way on the failure of the parties to allocate more than 2% to the advancement of women in politics from this fund, that that is one of the purposes, but I couldn't see it stated on Sipo's website. claimingourfuture.ie

The allowances can not be used to recoup election expenses.

[culmore]

didnt here you complaint while fianna Failure were getting the lions share for years

[Dr. FIVE]

Perhaps, FF have taught us to watch everyone.

[Baron von Biffo]

And that's even before we get James Reilly's expenses bill. ;)