Well For Some! FFG Votes to Spend €400k on Wine
Well for some! In a time when the poor are eternally told that their welfare is simply not in the budget, the Oireachtas has voted to spend €400,000 on its own brand of wine.
In a time when the poor are eternally told that their welfare is simply not in the budget, the Oireachtas has voted to spend €400,000 on its own brand of wine. The wine will only be sold inside of Leinster House so that only statesmen and their friends can delight in its luxuriousness.
According to The Journal, “The current Oireachtas-labelled house wine retails at €16, while its brand of Rioja and Pinot Grigio sell for €28” [1]. Despite these lofty prices, it is doubtful that this will be in any sense a profitable investment.
If the politicians which plague the 26 counties lived according to their stated principles of balancing the budget, they would have spent this money on social welfare or projects which would promise returns in the long term. Such money could have been spent on the restoration of dilapidated buildings owned by local governments in order to deliver public housing, on better living quarters for refugees or on replacing lead pipes. Indeed, some question why TDs should be drinking at work in the first place, having created a petition to close the Daíl Bar.
If the politicians absolutely insisted on drowning their aching conscience with wine, that wine could have been sold beyond the confines of Leinster House. The profits would go back into the budget. Instead they ensure austerity for the common man and opulence for themselves and the rich plutocrats which prop them up.
Incidents such as these are excellent examples of the corruptive effects of power and of its ability to shift one's class position. Those with the power to manage budgets have a vested interest in maintaining their power and in using it for their own benefit at the expense of the common man. We cannot allow them to have notions of being above us.
Works Cited
McDonagh, Darragh. 2026. “Oireachtas to Spend €400k on Its Own Brand of Red and White Wine for the Dáil.” TheJournal.ie. TheJournal. June 30, 2026. https://www.thejournal.ie/dail-bar-wine-cost-7086059-Jun2026/.
