A government minister from Cork is weathering criticism today after it emerged that he got gardaí to give him a lift from Mitchelstown to Dublin airport.

European Affairs Minister Dara Murphy was on his way to catch a flight to Brussels earlier this month when his car broke down. 

He was accompanied by his driver, but called gardaí when they were unable to get the car going again.

The local Superintendent has confirmed there was no cost incurred as the gardaí were already on duty, but Minister Murphy's peers have today said using his position to call in the favour showed poor judgement since garda resources are already stretched thin.

The saga prompted Newstalk.com to look at the perks our elected representatives are entitled to... some of the perks listed below might surprise you.

To start with, there are the high salaries.  The basic pay for a TD is €87,258 a year, while a Senator earns €65,000.

Aside from high salaries, TDs also get additional payments for positions of responsibility, and they have generous pension entitlements.

Claiming back

They are entitled to reclaim the cost of travelling to and from the Oireachtas, and overnight accommodation while at work in Dublin.

As long as they have a good attendance record of at least 120 days a year, TDs can claim up to €34,000 a year while Senators can claim up €29,565.

Oireachtas members can also claim vouched expenses of between €12,225 and €20,350 depending on whether the person is a Senator, TD or Minister. In order to claim that money they must supply receipts.

But they can also claim between €900 and €1,200 a year in unvouched expenses, or "petty cash". 

Extra perks

But TDs are also entitled to the following wide variety of attractive bonuses:

• Free parking for life in the Dáil complex 
• Exemptions from breathalyser tests

• Gym membership

• Free language lessons
• Cheap drink and food in the Dáil bar and restaurant
• Health insurance
• Car insurance
• Life insurance
• Some entertaining expenses during parliamentary assemblies
• Free ink cartridges
• Tax advice
• Money for mobile phones and calls made on those phones
• Free unlimited telephone calls, including personal calls, from their office landlines 
• Pre-paid envelopes - TDs are entitled to 1,500 per month while Senators are allowed 1,000.
• Drivers - ministers are entitled to recruit two drivers
• Cars - but only provided for the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Justice Minister
• Second residence tax deductions and rental allowances
• Maintenance costs if they use a hotel as a second residence e.g. laundry
• Equipment for constituency offices
• Parliamentary assistant allowances

Food and drink

The average price of a pint of Guinness is about €4.67 these days, but can run up to €5. Other draft beers are usually more expensive.

TDs and Senators can imbibe at the Dáil public bar or at the member's only bar, which are subsidised. They will pay €4.60 for a pint of Guinness or €4.80 for a pint of Heineken.

And our politicians can get credit at the bar too. That enables them shout a round of drinks for visiting constituents and pick up the bill at the end of the month.

The cost of a main hot meal runs to between €6-7 at the main public restaurant, which is open to visitors and staff as well as politicians. 

While at the member's only restaurant they will get an a la carte meal for about €10.

Parking for life - That perk is also extended to a group of people known as "Weekend Senators", those who are appointed (often in the dying days of the government) such as Colm O'Gorman of Amnesty International Ireland.

Breathalyser tests - If a TD is stopped on his/her way home from work at a garda checkpoint where they are asked to take a breath test, they can invoke a privilege that excludes them from being tested. 

Meanwhile, Minister Dara Murphy's brush with controversy looks set to cause him embarrassment for quite some time yet.

He is now fielding questions about whether the urgency of his trip to Brussels justified the cost of sending two gardaí on a 420 kilometres round trip.