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Holly Cairns criticises Oireachtas system that led to her being mistakenly paid €8,500 in travel expenses while on maternity leave
Holly Cairns criticises Oireachtas system that led to her being mistakenly paid €8,500 in travel expenses while on maternity leave Tipperary -based Imelda Goldsboro, a Taoiseach’s nominee to the Seanad, has been absent from the Seanad since November 2025 and last spoke in the house in October of that year.
Photograph: Fianna FáilSenator who was paid €16,700 in travel and accommodation expenses while out sick for eight months has said she is discussing the payments with the Oireachtas. The Senator has been treated for a serious illness in that time. Despite her absence from Leinster House, she has continued to be paid the Oireachtas Travel and Accommodation Allowance as part of her overall expenses.
Once TAA payments have commenced, they are paid automatically and can only be stopped through written instruction from an Oireachtas member. Four HSE regions to lose power over day-to-day spending Gaffe at Leonard’s Corner review: Super prices and a dribblingly good cheeseburger at this neighbourhood pub Members must record their attendance for at least 120 days annually in Leinster House to retain the full allowance, or face a clawback of 1 per cent for each day under that threshold.
Attendances can be marked present in retrospect through the submission of a medical certificate showing ill-health. Goldsboro is in “band 4” due to the distance of her home from Leinster House, and so is paid €2,097 a month in TAA. Contacted by phone last week, Goldsboro said she had been on sick leave but would be returning to Leinster House later this month.
Asked whether she would repay the €16,779 in TAA that was paid to her in 2026, the Senator initially said she did not believe that was necessary. The Senator said her work was in “the constituency” in Tipperary and that she had also worked while in hospital. The TAA guide said the allowance is paid to cover the costs of travel to and from Leinster House and overnights in Dublin. Fianna Fáil later issued a statement on her behalf.
“The Senator is engaging with the Houses of the Oireachtas to ensure all her records and payments for 2026 are up to date and accurate,” it said. “Imelda Goldsboro is looking forward to returning to Leinster House following a series of health challenges since late last year. She is grateful for the support she received from her colleagues, team and constituents throughout this period.
“She is more determined than ever to get back to Leinster House and fight for the people of Tipperary. She is also grateful for the fantastic care she received from frontline workers and medical professionals in Tipperary and Dublin during this time.
” The Oireachtas has not responded to questions about why TAA was paid to Cairns last year, despite the Social Democrats saying its leader believed the payments would be halted after she informed the Oireachtas she was taking maternity leave. TAA payments continued to be paid to the Cork South-West TD and were only stopped in March 2025 when Cairns noticed the money was being paid into her constituency account. She repaid some €8,500 of the TAA.
Without referring to Cairns, the Oireachtas said that when it is advised a member will be absent due to taking maternity leave, “the member is advised that the usual attendance limits for retention of the allowance remain unchanged”.
“The member is also advised of the option to waive or stop receiving the TAA payments during their absence and to indicate this in writing to the Houses of the Oireachtas Service. Payments of TAA will continue during the period of absence due to maternity leave if no written instruction to cease is received.
” The Social Democrats insist, however, that no advice was given to Cairns that she needed to advise the Oireachtas in writing to halt her TAA payments. In 2024, a law was passed introducing maternity leave for Oireachtas members, but the party strongly criticised the lack of a formal maternity leave system for TDs.
“Deputy Cairns was the first Oireachtas member to go on maternity leave, after the law was enacted, and there were no templates in place at that time,” it said. “To give one example of the issues that arose after Deputy Cairns gave birth, she was initially told she would have to travel from west Cork to Dublin, which would have necessitated travelling with her newborn baby to sign the Roll of Members.
She was unable to do that and an accommodation was eventually found, after a number of weeks.
“Deputy Cairns is marked present, on the Dáil record, for the entirety of her maternity leave because she was required to submit sick certs for the duration of her maternity leave. If she had not done this, she would have been marked absent on the Dáil record, rather than on maternity leave, and she would have been penalised financially when she returned to work. This serious and discriminatory flaw in the maternity leave scheme for Oireachtas members still exists.
”on “why there have been no changes or improvements to the maternity leave scheme for Oireachtas members, to address its serious deficiencies, in the two years since the legislation has been passed”. The department said it was reviewing “the policy in relation to this matter... and we will engage with Oireachtas colleagues in this regard”.
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