Civil servants continue to rip us off......

[earl]

The latest increases in the expenses allowances paid to civil servants highlight just how out of touch with economic reality the public sector has become. As a result of the latest increases many civil servants will be able to boost their incomes by a tax-free €10,000.

What planet does the Irish civil service live on? In the week in which Finance Minister Brian Lenihan revealed a tax shortfall of €1.45bn in the first half of the year, civil servants' already generous mileage and subsistence allowances are increased by up to a further 4pc.

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Mileage and subsistence is one of the great civil service rackets. The theory is that civil servants are compensated for out-of-pocket expenses when travelling as part of their official duties. The reality is a handy tax-free top-up to their already generous salaries.

From this week, civil servants who use their own cars when travelling on official duty will receive between 83.9 cent and 126.7 cent a mile depending on the size of their car's engine. True, this rate applies only to the first 4,000 miles travelled, after which it drops to between 45.5 cent and 61 cent per mile, but that still works out at between €3,356 and €5,068 per year for civil servants who drive 4,000 miles a year on official business.

And guess what? By some remarkable coincidence the vast majority of our mobile civil servants seem to manage their affairs so that their annual mileage comes in at bang on the 4,000 mile cut-off.

But that's only the start of it. Of course many of these civil servants who selflessly travel the highroads and byroads of Ireland on the public's business have to stay away from home overnight. That's another handy little earner for them.

Overnighting civil servants now receive €145.42 per night. This money is unreceipted. So, speaking entirely hypothetically of course, what is there to stop a less than scrupulous civil servant staying with family, friends or in a cheap B&B while still claiming the full rates? Absolutely nothing.

So if our civil servant who is already travelling 4,000 miles a year somehow manages to stay away from home on official business for 30 nights a year he receives a further €4,363.

And its gets better.

In addition to overnight rates, civil servants also receive large unreceipted wedges of our cash if they are out of the office for more than five hours on official duties. A civil servant out of the office for more than five but less than 10 hours receives €18.26 per day while a civil servant out of the office for more than 10 hours gets €44.81.

So going back to our civil servant, if in addition to travelling 4,000 miles a year and 30 overnight stays, he was also out of the office for between five and 10 hours for another 30 days and for more than 10 hours on 15 days, he would receive a further €1,208.

This would bring the total take up to between €8,926 and €10,621 tax-free.

Is there any other business that would hand over more than €10,000 a year to one of its employees without them having to produce a single receipt?

When he announces his cut-backs next week Brian Lenihan should start with the mileage and subsistence racket.

[earl]

........While Gardai told to save fuel


There may be a bloody gang war going on in Dublin but gardai have been told they cannot keep their cool fighting it.

Officers in a busy city district have been advised not to use air conditioning in their patrol cars – to save fuel.

The instruction comes as TDs have been awarded a generous expenses hike at the very time the Government demanded restraint from the rest of us.

The TDs’ increase came literally within hours of the announcement of €500m in Government cutbacks.

It also comes at the same time as a major crackdown on overtime payments has left gardai struggling to cope with the rise in crime in the capital.

“What are we supposed to think? We are being put to the pin of our collar every single day trying to keep a lid on the crime situation and then someone tells you, ‘Oh don’t use the air conditioning in the patrol car.’

“It’s unbelievably infuriating, not to say demoralising,” said one experienced officer today.

The advice has also drawn the ire of the force’s main union, the GRA. Dublin executive member, Phil Carr, described the advice as “ridiculous”.

Executive Committee member for the north central Dublin metropolitan region, Philip Carr said: “I've never heard of that situation anywhere else (before this). If you need it [air conditioning], you need it.

“Depending on the conditions, it must be used to either heat up the car or to cool it down. You couldn't be sitting in discomfort.”

In the advisory to officers at the busy north city station, the local Superintendent issued an advisory that due to the current high price of oil, petrol and diesel should be used sparingly.

A number of bemused garda sources have told the Herald: “We have been told not to use the air con in cars because it adds to the fuel consumption.

“It’s absolutely ludicrous, especially in the summer months.”

Air conditioning saps power from the engine to operate the compressor and to run the blower metres, thereby increasing fuel consumption.

It is estimated that operating an air conditioner can increase fuel consumption by more than 20pc during city driving. |Sustainable Energy Ireland (SEI) has previously highlighted the fact that one of the easiest ways of reducing carbon emissions in Dublin would be to target fleet vehicles such as council, garda and public transport vehicles.

However, Mr Carr pointed out that at the very least air con is “needed to stop the windows from steaming up”.

SEI has recommended that many of the existing vehicles could be traded in for electric or hybrid models, but these are more expensive.

Last month, the GRA claimed gardai are losing the battle to catch criminals because their cars are too slow.

The majority of the 1,328 garda fleet are less powerful than some family saloons, meaning criminals generally have the upper hand in high-speed chases.

And many garda cars are not sturdy enough to protect their occupants if rammed by more powerful vehicles.

According to figures released by Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, nearly three-in-four vehicles used by the gardai are in the 100 brake horse power range, while the remaining 25pc are more powerful at 140bhp.

President of the GRA, Michael O'Boyce said: “Garda patrol cars need to have larger engines, but the Government has been slower to implement this than we would like. It's gone some way, but needs to go further.”

The GRA president, who represents more than 11,000 rank-and-file gardai, said larger cars were inherently safer.

“To keep pace with a higher performance car means that a garda driver has to push his own vehicle too hard and this compromises everyone's safety,” said Mr O'Boyce.