Fianna Fáil Senator Makes More On Travel Allowance Than Someone With A Job Earning Over €20K

The Irish Sun has revealed that Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee gets just over €20,000 travel allowance after a change of address.

The Fianna Fáil representative used to claim a Travel and Accommodation Allowance of €5,250 when she was based just over 12km away from Leinster House meaning she fell under the Dublin travel Band.

She now lives just over 26kms away from Leinster House and as a result, the senator is now getting €20,795 annually which works out at around €800 for each km she has had to travel.

The Oireachtas says that allowance was put in place to “cover the costs associated with travel to and from Leinster House, overnights and, for TDs only, other travel expenses including constituency travel. Senators are paid a reduced amount as there are no payments for constituency travel”.

Lee told the publication that she didn't think much about the expenses and just filled in a form for the Oireachtas but said that “if the rules change I would be more than happy to go along with that obviously.”

Other TDs who also earn a higher travel allowance as documented in The Irish Sun include: Sinn Fein TD Louise O’Reilly, Fine Gael TD Michael Noonan, Fine Gael Senator Ray Butler and Fianna Fail TD Marc MacSharry.