Breen won’t comment on expense claims

CLARE Fine Gael TD Pat Breen refused to comment to The Clare Champion this week following the publication of his expense claims for the last four years. In that period, he was the second highest expenses claimant amongst the 166 TDs in Dáil Éireann, coming in just behind Fianna Fáil TD Ned O’Keeffe, who claimed €304,137.80.
Deputy Breen, who was elected to the Dáil in May 2002, has claimed €301,206.72 in expenses since 2005. This is on top of his basic wage, which is in the region of €100,191 per annum. Therefore, Deputy Breen would have earned more than €187,000 in 2008, when his expenses claimed totalled €87,283.54.
In 2005, he claimed €73,055.14, €67,152.04 in 2006 and in 2007 the Clare TD put in for €73,716.00 in expenses. The Fine Gael party leader Enda Kenny claimed €285,277.30 during the four-year period in question, almost €16,000 less than Deputy Breen.
When contacted by The Clare Champion to explain how his expenses were so high, Deputy Breen said that he had no comment to make and cited a statement he issued in August in relation to his expense claims.
Clare’s second Fine Gael TD, Joe Carey claimed €70,236.82 in expenses last year, while his figure for 2007 totalled €34,870.64. Fianna Fáil’s Timmy Dooley, who was elected for the first time, along with Deputy Carey in 2007, claimed €38,816.38 that year and €75,149.99 in 2008.
Junior Minister Tony Killeen claimed less than €10,000 in 2008 and less than €15,000 in expenses per annum from 2005 to 2007 inclusive. However, these figures do not include Minister Killeen’s expense claims in his role as a junior minister.