The Dáil has controversially voted to a prove an additional €16,000 euro in allowances for three “super” junior ministers.
The TDs in question are Chief Whip Jack Chambers of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael’s Hildegarde Naughton, Minister of State for Roads, and Green Party Senator Pippa Hackett, who was named a junior minister in the Department of Agriculture.
All three were currently receiving a salary of €124,000 a year in their role as Ministers of State. According to the most recent data provided by the CSO, 63% of Irish households subsist on less than €60,000 a year before tax.
The vote was carried 72-46 earlier this afternoon (24 July).
Opposition politicians, such as Paul Murphy and Pearse Doherty, asked whether the ministers would accept a “clap” instead of a payrise – referencing the symbolic thanks that has been paid to frontline workers through the Covid-19 crisis.
Unfortunately, that economically sensible suggestion seems to have been a non-starter.
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