TDs are paying over €400 a day for filtered tap water.
The whopping cost has been revealed as part of a Freedom of Information request from the Irish Mirror into catering costs at the national convention centre.
It shows that the fee for ‘Guest Water Station’ on a Dáil sitting day in the CCD (Convention Centre Dublin) is billed at €350, plus 23% VAT, which brings it up to €430.50.
There are ten of these stations, available from 07:30 to 18:00 at €35 each.
Meanwhile, the Mirror can also reveal that politicians were treated to free breakfast on the day Micheál Martin was elected Taoiseach.
The brekkie was on the House, the Houses of the Oireachtas that is, on Micheál’s big day, Saturday June 27th.
According to a document released to the Mirror under Freedom of Information legislation, the Houses’ Secretary General, Peter Finnegan, was picking up the tab.
An email circulated to the Convention Centre Dublin catering department on June 26th read: “As a once-off for tomorrow’s sitting, the Secretary General wants your till staff to record the individual cost of all breakfast purchases made during the breakfast window (8am to 10am) and to directly invoice the Houses of the Oireachtas Service and therefore not request payment from the customer.”
It was a nice surprise for politicians and Oirechtas staff on the day, with no advertising of the fact that it was a freebie until they got to the till, where they were advised it was gratis.
However, word quickly spread and there was soon a queue for the free fry-ups.
