The Dáil That Keeps on Giving – With Your Money.
Did you get your taxpayer-funded Christmas card, calendar, sympathy card, congratulations card, bookmark, postcard, or perhaps a handy copy of the 1916 Proclamation?
No? Strange. Because since the start of last year, TDs and Senators managed to produce more than 10.5 million customised print items through the Oireachtas print facility, all in connection, we are told, with “parliamentary duties”.
Among the highlights from this festival of ink and entitlement were: – 167,600 calendars, 65,210 Christmas cards, 45,225 greeting cards, 25,570 sympathy cards, 3,990 congratulations cards, customised bookmarks, postcards, and 8,700 copies of the 1916 Proclamation.
Nothing says “Republic” quite like printing the Proclamation at public expense while 85,000 newsletters and leaflets end up being pulped because they were never collected.
One batch of 35,000 newsletters apparently had an error. Another 30,000 booklets were printed in double the required amount. A further 20,000 were not collected after illness and, understandably, “went out of his head”.
Of course, mistakes happen. Usually, when ordinary people make them at work, there is a cost. In Leinster House, the cost appears to be paper, ink, staff time, recycling and the taxpayer’s patience.
From Leinster House with Love – Postage Included?
And here is the real festive question: if all these cards and calendars are being printed at our expense, who is paying for the stamps? Did TDs and Senators have access to prepaid Oireachtas envelopes?
So, did you get a card? Did you get a calendar? Did you get a bookmark? Did you get a sympathy card before you even knew you needed sympathy?
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