Stamping out politician"s traceability

Dear sir - Once again the free postage of TDs and senators is making the news. It has been for years and will in the future. The Standards in Public Office Commission has warned about their abuse. In 2004, a Dail committee on member"s interests recommended TDs be allowed claim back their postage costs through a traceable receipts system. TDs and traceable receipts don"t seem to gel and five years later this recommendation has not been acted on. A system of bar codes to trace the envelopes back to the original recipient was agreed by the Dail Committee on Procedures and Privileges, but it was not accepted by the Seanad Committee on Procedures and Privileges, so it was effectively vetoed. This is about more than a few stamps and a collection of wide boys who look to Arthur Daly as their guru. If our rulers are so disorganised they are unable to agree how to control the use of the free postal system, how can we trust them to deal with the real problems facing the country. Yours, Paul Egan, Whitethorn, Tullaghanogue, Trim.