ABSTRACT
This chapter follows editorial guidelines in taking the term ‘parliamentarians’ as co-terminus with members of the two houses of the Oireachtas (national parliament). These are TDs (MPs) from the Dail (the directly elected lower house, which predominates in the legislative system), and senators from the Seanad (the indirectly elected upper house). The relationship between parliamentarians and citizens has developed within the parameters of the 1937 constitution, in which the electoral system was left largely unchanged from that prescribed in the constitution adopted upon the attainment of independence in 1922. The basic principle that parliamentarians have the right to receive both salaries and the travel and other expenses necessary for the discharge of their duties is spelt out in the constitution. This has been embodied in the payment of appropriate salaries to TDs (as full-time parliamentarians) and senators (as part-timers), together with travel and personal expenses.
