Lisa Chambers spotted driving untaxed car despite getting €27,500 allowance to cover motor expenses

Senator Lisa Chambers was spotted driving an untaxed vehicle despite receiving an allowance of almost €2,300 a month to cover her motoring expenses, the Irish Mirror can reveal.

Using a vehicle without paying the required motor tax and failure to display a valid tax disc are both criminal offences.

Ms Chambers was photographed at Mill Lane Car Park in Castlebar, Co Mayo driving a 2017 Audi A4, displaying a tax disc that was almost four months out of date.

TDs and senators receive an unvouched Travel and Accommodation Allowance of up to €34,065 a year to cover the cost of using and maintaining a vehicle in the course of their duties.

The amount that they receive is based on the “shortest practicable route” from their home to Leinster House, according to the Oireachtas (Allowances and Facilities) Regulations 2010.

Ms Chambers has declared that her home in Castlebar is 273km from Leinster House for the purpose of her travel expenses, putting her in Band 9 and qualifying for a tax-free annual allowance of €27,534.

However, Google Maps shows that the shortest practicable route from her home to Leinster House is 238km, which would put her in Band 7.

She lives 1.8km from her constituency rival, Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon, but has to travel 35km further to reach Leinster House, according to her declaration

Mr Dillon’s declaration states that he lives 238km from Leinster House via the shortest practicable route, putting him in Band 7 – just two kilometres short of Band 8.

The photograph of Ms Chambers driving a vehicle without a valid tax disc was taken on January 24, 2022, at which point the motor tax was out of date by almost four months.

Lisa Chambers pictured getting into the vehicle in Castlebar, Co Mayo

A vehicle can be impounded by gardaí if a motor tax disc is more than two months out of date.

Motor tax records show that the Audi A4 was subsequently taxed with effect from January 2022 but there is a “gap” of four months from September 2021 during which it was not taxed.

It was purchased by its current owner on August 13, 2021. Ms Chambers did not respond when contacted for comment by the Irish Mirror.

She has been under pressure to resign as leader of the Seanad since it emerged that she campaigned for a ‘Yes’ vote in the two referendums earlier this month, but then said she voted ‘No’ herself.

She had also attempted to distance herself from the referendum results by claiming she “wasn’t involved” in the unsuccessful ‘Yes’ campaign, but photos subsequently emerged of her canvassing with her party.

Ms Chambers receives a salary of €76,329 as a senator, along with an annual allowance of €24,100 as leader of the Seanad. Her travel and accommodation allowance of €27,534 is unvouched and tax-free.

She is one of her party’s three candidates in the Midlands-North-West constituency for the European Parliament elections on June 7.

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