The Finance Minister has accepted that new laws boosting the pay of some junior ministers has caused annoyance to many.
This week, the Dail approved legislation giving a €16,000 allowance to three super juniors – on top of their €124,000 salary.
The move was described as “nauseating” and “obscene” by the opposition.
Tipperary Sinn Féin TD, Martin Browne says these super juniors should not accept it:
“I do think that they should give it back. They shouldn’t have voted it in in the first place. I would encourage them to give it back.
“I think they’ve totally misjudged the feeling of the public at this stage, because ever since this started breaking, the anger that is coming across from people that are contacting us is unbelievable. I haven’t ever seend anything like it.
“They just can’t justify it.”
Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe has defended the move but says he can understand people’s anger:
“Last week, while I understand that the decision that was taken around ministers’ State pay has caused annoyance to many, I’m also just saying that in the same week those decisions were made, many other decisions were made that are about helping our citizens get a job. And helping our citizens and our employers at a time of great difficulty.
“… We were dealing with a specific matter – we have a number of Ministers of State around the cabinet table that were being paid differently and we were looking to get to a point that, if they were all doing the same work, they were paid the same.
“But all that being said, I do accept that this is causing a great annoyance and anger to some.”
