MLAs vote to set their own expenses again – despite warning of potential for abuse

Following a  90-minute debate in the Assembly this morning, the votes of the DUP, Sinn Fein and the SDLP were enough to defeat an attempt by TUV leader Jim Allister to retain the ability of an independent body to set politicians’ expenses rules.

More than a decade ago, MLAs voted to give up the right to set their own expenses, arguing that their decision was evidence that they had listened to public anger over myriad expenses scandals.

However, the Independent Financial Review Panel (IFRP) which they gave power to determine their expenses – which are a bigger bill than the salaries of the Assembly’s 90 MLAs, running to many millions of pounds – issued a series of determinations which many MLAs believed were overly rigorous and in some cases irrational.

This morning MLAs debated a motion – proposed by Alliance’s John Blair, the DUP’s Keith Buchanan, the UUP’s Robbie Butler, the SDLP’s Dolores Kelly and Sinn Fein’s John O’Dowd – proposing to give the Assembly Commission, a cross-party group of MLAs, the power to “determine the allowances payable to Members of the Assembly”.

Proposing the change, DUP chief whip Keith Buchannan said that it was a “consensus position” agreed by the five main parties which would ensure that MLAs could “legitimately purchase items” necessary for their work, while also ensuring that the terms and conditions of employment for staff in their offices are “fair and reasonable”.

The Mid Ulster MLA said he knew there was “considerable support” among MLAs for the change and said that the Assembly Commission planned to bring forward legislation to put the intent of the motion into law.

He insisted that scrutiny of expenses was “rigorous and extensive” and “that will not change” and argued that the IFRP rules “failed to grasp the realities that MLAs face”.

Mr Buchanan said that allowing MLAs to set the rules would lead to “reasonable and fair levels” of pay for party staff in their constituency offices.

Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd accepted that politicians should be held to a higher standard than others but argued that the current situation was unfair on staff and there was a need to move urgently to rectify that.

He said that he did not know whether the public was angry about MLAs deciding to set their own expenses but said that some media commentators were angry.

TUV leader Jim Allister proposed an amendment to only allow MLAs to determine their own expenses in exceptional circumstances if the rules are causing “practical difficulties or inequities”.

He said that MLAs proposing the change “must have very short memories” because past political behaviour had led to public outrage.

He said that the proposal would “recreate the circumstances which gave rise to such scandalous behaviour as Sinn Féin members pouring £700,000 of their expenses – unknown, it is claimed by some of their MLAs – into a body called Research Services Ireland Ltd headed up by Sinn Féin’s finance director.
“When BBC Spotlight did a programme they could find no website for Research Services Ireland, they could find no phone number, they could find not even one sheet of research produced. It was a scam, it was a rip off of public money.”

Mr Allister said that the now deputy First Minister, Michelle O’Neill, had paid £18,000 in “colossal” rent to “a so-called cultural society” but that one of the society’s trustees had then revealed that Sinn Féin had bought the building 30 years ago.

Mr Allister also rounded on the DUP for its Church Street office in Ballymena, referring to the “scandal” of how in one year £50,000 had been “claimed by a father and son member of this Assembly to go into an office of which the first director was...Seymour Sweeney” and that the directorship had then changed to Ian Paisley’s father-in-law before ending up with a DUP councillor.

Citing other examples, he said: “It’s such circumstances we’re being invited to return to”, with the Assembly authorities having “swept under the carpet” past abuse.
Mr Allister accepted that the IFRP had been guilty of “irrational decisions” such as not allowing MLAs to put their phone number on office signage and had been “most bumptious in trying to defend them” but he said there was an important principle about MLAs not setting their own pay or allowances.

The UUP and Alliance Party had initially endorsed the change – and their names were on the proposal when it came to the Assembly – but changed course and backed Mr Allister’s amendment which was defeated by 67 votes to 20.

SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan said that staff in MLAs’ offices should get more generous pay and paid holidays than the legal minimum, as is currently the case.

And the UUP’s Doug Beattie said the panel’s determination “felt like we were punishing all MLAs for the abuses of some”. He said the pay of staff was “scandalous”.

Independent unionist Jim Wells said that MLAs’ staff had not had a pay rise for five years. He said that MLAs were “not feathering our own nests” but looking after their staff.

However, highlighting that many Assembly members employ relatives or party members, People Before Profit MLA Gerry Carroll said that many workers would like to set their own expenses but cannot and asked: “Why should it be different for MLAs?”

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