The taxpayer has spent almost €1 MILLION on office stationery and printing jobs for TDs.
Figures obtained by Today FM show some TDs spending five-figure sums to print the likes of newsletters, business cards - and even sympathy cards - since the last general election.
Although TDs and senators already get allowances to cover the costs of running their offices, they’re also allowed to get printing jobs done on the printing presses at Leinster House, at no cost to themselves.
The figures released to Today FM under the Freedom of Information Act show that since the last election, Oireachtas members have spent €978,000 on various printing jobs with the taxpayer footing the bill.
Almost every single member has availed of the facility - but some do so more often than others.
Terence Flanagan of the Reform Alliance is the highest user, with his work costing over €22,000, mostly through the costs of printing constituency newsletters.
He’s followed by justice minister Frances Fitzgerald, who has spent over €16,000.
At the other end of the scale, independent senator Mary Ann O'Brien has ordered work costing less than €93 in almost four years in the Seanad.
The figures also show politicians spending over €2,000 of public funds to print sympathy cards to send to bereaved constituents.
One TD, Fine Gael’s Mary Mitchell O’Connor, has ordered 150 cards for people who she hopes will Get Well Soon - at a cost of just under €30 to the taxpayer.
The printing facilities are available for politicians to use in the course of their parliamentary duties, and cannot be used for direct campaigning purposes.
The facility is separate to the one which allows TDs to obtain printer cartridges for free - as was made famous by generous claims by Sinn Féin's Aengus Ó Snodaigh in 2012-2013.
