TDs smash the €100,000 barrier with wages hike
Related Articles
ALL of our TDs will earn a basic take-home salary of at least €100,000 for the first time from today.
The boost to their earnings comes as Taoiseach Brian Cowen this week attempts to kickstart the collapsed pay talks.
The job of every TD is now officially in the six-figure bracket as the terms of a national wage increase kick in for workers across the country.
The 2.5pc increase is the final tranche of a pay rise agreed under the national partnership agreement, which has yet to be replaced by a new wage deal.
Mr Cowen will try to kickstart the stalled process this week when he hosts a fresh round of talks between unions and employers. The social partners failed to reach agreement over the summer. Mr Cowen then decided to take a break from the talks and return to the negotiating table after the holidays.
The pay deal believed to be previously on the table may be reduced by employers in the coming weeks when new inflation figures are expected to show a reduction in the rate of increase in the cost of living. Employers' groups are also calling for a pay freeze, lasting longer in the public sector.
Today's pay rise will add €155m to the public sector pay bill between now and the end of the year.
In 2009, the full-year cost of today's rise will be €470m. Every 1pc pay rise costs the exchequer €190m, placing extra pressure on the Government to control its own wage costs as tax revenues drop off.
The head of the employers' group, IBEC, identified the public sector pay bill as a problem area for the management of the economy.
Calling on the Government to "cut their own cloth to suit their measure", IBEC director general Turlough O'Sullivan said ministers needed to address the "significant over-staffing" in the public service.
Ahead of the expected resumption of national pay talks on Thursday, Mr O'Sullivan said the Government needed to show clear leadership in the negotiations.
The Government needed to make it clear that a moderate and competitive wage agreement was needed in the national interest to protect jobs and the economy, he said.
"We are in pretty bad shape, to be blunt about it," he added.
Mr O'Sullivan said employers were looking for a 21-month wage deal, starting with a pay pause and followed by a rise in the "low single figures".
"That is our view of what is appropriate for the economy," he said.
Mr O'Sullivan repeatedly denied that any offer was made before the talks were postponed at the start of August.
But the Irish Independent understands employers were offering two rises of 2.5pc -- with a possible extra 1pc -- following a pay freeze lasting at least six months.
The offer was well short of union demands for up to 5pc a year over a two-year period, so no deal was struck
Union leaders, such as ICTU general secretary David Begg, agreed unions were prepared to accept increases less than the rate of inflation.
The unions' position may be weakened, though, by the next set of inflation figures, due out in the coming weeks, which it is believed will show a fall-off in the rate of inflation.
Doubts are now being expressed about whether the employers will continue to make the same offer and may instead table lower increases.
The wage rise today is the fourth and final increase under the present round of the Towards 2016 national wage agreement.
In the absence to date of a new wage deal, pay claims for more than 250,000 workers have been lodged by unions representing those employed in the private sector. Today's rise will mean every Dail deputy is now on a six-figure salary for the first time.
Bonuses
The vast bulk of TDs are already earning over €100,000, when additional allowances, payments and bonuses are included. The basic salary -- the minimum wage for TDs -- is now €100,191.
The symbolic €100,000 point is being passed just weeks after Education Minister Batt O'Keeffe attached some significance to the figure in terms of the perception of wealth.
Mr O'Keeffe said incomes of over €100,000 a year would be a target for third-level college fees if they were re-introduced.
Although the Cabinet postponed their enormous pay awarded controversially by the higher review body, ministers still benefit from significant increases today.
Mr Cowen gets his first pay rise since becoming Taoiseach, as his salary increases by €6,965 from €278,618 to €285,583.
Tanaiste Mary Coughlan's pay goes up by €5,984 from €239,341 to €245,325; and the rest of the ministers' pay increases by €5,493 from €219,703 to €225,196.
- Fionnan Sheahan Political Editor
