In a statement this afternoon, the Government said that the “three Junior Ministers who sit at Cabinet, Minister Jack Chambers TD, Minister Hildegarde Naughton TD and Minister Pippa Hackett have decided to waive and gift back to the State the increased allocation which was approved by the Dáil last week."
“This is in addition to the 10 per cent pay cut for all ministers, which was collectively agreed by Cabinet yesterday.”
The three ministers will instead split two existing allowances and receive a wage increase of a little over €10,000 each.
The move follows controversy over the Government decision to increase the pay of the three super junior ministers last week.
Ministerial pay cut criticism
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has defended the new ten per cent pay cut for cabinet members and junior ministers announced by the Taoiseach yesterday in the wake of controversy.
It has emerged that despite the pay cut, ministers will still earn more than their predecessors, due to the fact that the previous administration waived pay restoration increases due to them.
Climate and Transport Minister Ryan defended Micheál Martin's salary amounting to €1,500 more than Leo Varadkar's did as Taoiseach:
“That’s because the previous Taoiseach had done something similar and the current Taoiseach has now decided, and the rest of the cabinet colleagues, to do the same...
“His salary will be ten per cent lower than it would have been because he’s giving it back as I said, and that’s as real as you can get.”
However, Minister Ryan was not aware that ministers would still be earning more than the last office holders:
“Those finer details of what exactly each TD or each minister’s pay is, no I wasn’t aware of that, but the basic concept you give back ten per cent, that’s fairly easy to understand.”
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty has criticised the announcement:
“Do they think that the public are that silly, are that gullible that we would swallow some of this kind of guff coming from government?
The reality is, Micheál Martin walked... into Leinster House just last week, and voted for a €70,000 increase for super junior ministers.”
