He made the comments on Thursday morning.
Minister for Finance and Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe has said that government ministers have no plans to take a Covid-19 related pay cut.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern recently announced that she and her ministers, along with public service CEOs, will take a 20% pay cut for six months.
The move has prompted calls for other governments to follow suit, however, speaking to Pat Kenny on Newstalk on Thursday, Donohoe said there are no plans for a wage cut for ministers during the Covid-19 crisis.
Donohoe said they haven’t had the wage increases other sectors have had in recent years.
Speaking on the current Covid-19 payment and wage subsidy schemes, Donohoe said that the future of these schemes would be explained in the coming weeks.
“We cannot sustain this indefinitely – these are interventions that are costing between €200m and €400m per week,” Donohoe said.
“What I will do now in the coming weeks, is I will explain the future of a scheme like that.
“The two principles I have is number one; we cannot sustain this indefinitely, but I also know turning it off abruptly will undo much of the good work that we’ve put in place. And then secondly, to try and change it in a way that ties in with income and jobs recovering in our country.”
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