Politicians' pay bill soars as TDs clock up €1,100 a day
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Wednesday October 31 2007
TDs will earn more than €1,100 for every day they sit in the Dail next year.
And that's before you add in the exorbitant pay rise for the Taoiseach, Tanaiste and ministers announced last week.
New figures reveal the standard basic wage for a deputy will rise to €108,500 in 2008.
The creation of extra committees will add to the Oireachtas salary bill for next year. Running Leinster House will cost the taxpayer €136m in 2007.
Wages for TDs, Senators and MEPs will cost €24.4m, but that doesn't include the additional salaries paid to ministers on top of their TDs salaries.
Expenses
In addition, there's another €16m in expenses and allowances for politicians and €22m in salaries for their secretaries.
The average basic wage for a TD reached exactly €101,000 this year, as €16.7m was set aside in the Houses of the Oireachtas accounts for the 166 Dail deputies.
In 2008 that figure will rise to €18m, as the average basic salary goes up to €108,000.
But that doesn't give the full picture of politicians' pay as ministerial salaries are paid on top of that.
Last week Taoiseach Bertie Ahern awarded himself a €38,000 pay rise, part of which will kick in next year.
Tanaiste Brian Cowen's salary will rise by €36,000, with Cabinet ministers' wages going up by €26,000 and junior ministers by almost €18,000.
Based on the average number of sitting days in full years in recent times, Dail Eireann will sit for an estimated 97 days next year.
This year, the Dail will only sit for a 76 days, but this low number can be partly accounted for by the general election.
From 2003 to 2006 -- years when there was no election -- the Dail sat for an average of 97 days, so this is a fairer estimate of sitting days.
On that basis, if that sitting ratio continues in 2008, TDs will pick up €1,118 per sitting day or a total of €108,500.
Costs
The costs of running Leinster House are published in the Houses of the Oireachtas estimates for 2007.
A TD's wages now starts at €95,363. But not all TDs' salaries are the same.
TDs get paid extra amounts for their length of service (up to €6,000 more) and for holding positions on Oireachtas committees (up to €19,000 more).
All but a handful of Fianna Fail TDs now hold some sort of position carrying an extra salary from ministers to Oireachtas Committee convenors.
The formula is clearly different for every TD. A backbench TD elected for the first time in 2007 and without any additional committee role makes the basic €95,363 but a colleague elected in 1997 who is now the chairman of an Oireachtas committee earns €120,504.
Ministers are only paid a TD's starting salary by the Oireachtas and get their office-holder allowances separately from their department.
So the Taoiseach is currently paid €271,822, but he gets just €95,363 from the Oireachtas and the remaining €176,459 comes from the Department of An Taoiseach.
Addition
And the addition of extra committees will bump up the Oireachtas salary bill for next year even further.
"Additional provision has also been made in this expenditure category for the cost of additional positions occasioned by the recent expansion of the Oireachtas committees system," a spokesman for the Oireachtas said.
Pay increases to be made in 2008 under the terms of the Towards 2016 wage agreement will apply to members of the Dail and have been provided for in the 2008 estimate.
The statutory allowances paid to members appointed to positions specified in regulations made by the Minister for Finance are also provided for, a spokesman for the Oireachtas said.
- Fionnan Sheahan Political Correspondent
