Calendars and Christmas cards among 10.5m copies of customised print items produced for TDs and senators
Darragh Mc Donagh
Calendars, Christmas cards and bookmarks were among more than 10.5 million copies of customised print items produced for TDs and senators at the taxpayer’s expense since the beginning of last year.
Elected members also used the Oireachtas print facility to produce thousands of sympathy cards, congratulations cards, and postcards during the same period, as well as 8,700 copies of the 1916 Proclamation.
A total of 85,000 copies of newsletters and leaflets were never collected from the facility and had to be pulped.
They were ordered by Social Democrats TD Jen Cummins, Fine Gael TD Noel McCarthy and Fine Gael Senator PJ Murphy.
Oireachtas members are entitled to use the centralised print facility in connection with their parliamentary duties. The production of materials is also occasionally outsourced to external contractors.
The most prolific printer since the start of 2025 was Fine Gael TD for Dublin Rathdown Maeve O’Connell, who ordered a total of 302,425 copies of business cards, newsletters, letterheads, and other materials from the facility.
She was followed by her party colleague, James Geoghegan, who ordered 283,792 copies of flyers, posters, cards, and other items during the same period.
A total of 19 TDs and seven senators used the facility to print a total of 167,600 calendars in 32 separate orders, with Fianna Fáil members accounting for almost 60 per cent of these.
Minister of State Niall Collins had 35,000 calendars printed, while Carlow-Kilkenny TD Jennifer Murnane-O’Connor ordered 30,000.
Michael Healy-Rae ordered 16,000 calendars, and Willie O’Dea requested 15,950.
A total of 77 Oireachtas members used the print facility to produce a total of 65,210 customised Christmas cards, 5,600 of which were ordered by Fine Gael Senator Linda Nelson-Murray.
Fianna Fáil TD John Lahart had 3,500 Christmas cards printed by the facility, while Michael Healy-Rae and Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín ordered 2,500 each. Another 2,000 were ordered by Michael Healy-Rae’s brother, Danny.
In addition to Christmas cards, a total of 45,225 greeting cards were printed for 57 TDs and senators during the same period.
Some 48 members ordered a total of 25,570 customised sympathy cards from the facility, with Danny Healy-Rae accounting for 3,000 of these. Michael Healy-Rae, Fianna Fáil TD Tony McCormack, and Fine Gael Senator Mark Duffy also ordered 2,000 each.
A total of 3,990 congratulations cards were ordered by five senators and four TDs. These included independent senator Rónán Mullen, Labour TD Alan Kelly, and Aontú’s Sarah O’Reilly and Paul Lawless.
Three TDs – Danny Healy-Rae, Paul Lawless, and Independent Ireland’s Ken O’Flynn – used the print facility to produce customised bookmarks, according to records released under freedom of information laws.
The 85,000 documents that were pulped included 35,000 newsletters ordered by Social Democrats TD Jen Cummins.
She said yesterday that the newsletters had contained an error, which “regrettably” meant that they could not be distributed and had to be recycled instead.
Some 30,000 copies of a ‘Know Where You Stand’ information booklet ordered by Fine Gael Senator PJ Murphy were also pulped. He said he wasn’t sure whether this was a result of his mistake or that of the print facility.
“Double the amount required was printed. We collected and delivered the amount we required,” he explained.
A total of 20,000 copies of the same booklet were ordered by Fine Gael TD for Cork East Noel McCarthy and subsequently pulped after he failed to collect them.
He said he ‘put his hand up’ and acknowledged his mistake, explaining that he had failed to collect the items when he was sick earlier this year, and then it ‘went out of his head’.
McCarthy said he appreciated the printing entitlements afforded to Oireachtas members “and we shouldn’t abuse it”, adding that the staff at the facility do a wonderful job.
