How many twists and turns can the public be expected to keep up with?
Last week, the Dáil voted to increase allowances for three super junior ministers, Jack Chambers, Hildegarde Naughton and Pippa Hackett by €16,000.
The decision faced widespread backlash, though the government tried to justify the move as bringing the salaries of super junior ministers in line with cabinet members doing the same amount of work.
Then, while admitting the situation was handled poorly, Micheál Martin announced yesterday that his entire cabinet would be taking a 10% pay cut on their baseline salaries.
Then it turned out that this pay cut was simply a renewal of pay cut that was already in place during the last government, meaning that in effect, almost nothing had changed. The cut also did not apply to the controversial €16,000 additional allowance that started the entire debacle.
Today, the three ministers of state at the centre of the pay increase fiasco have said that they will regift to the state part of the extra allowance bestowed upon by last week's vote. All three will still, however, be overall better off than their predecessors after all is said and done, due to salary increases under public sector pay deals.
Following the various deductions and increases, TDs Jack Chambers and Hildegarde Naughton will earn slightly over €128,000 a year, while Senator Pippa Hackett will earn roughly €102,000.
