Her comments follow media reports that Secretary General salaries may not be made public by the government.
The Sinn Féin TD said senior civil servants’ pay should be published, as has always been the case.
She said that this is about ‘accountability and transparency’ with public money and that it is ‘quite astonishing’ to see a potential change in this practice suggested.
“At the time that the pay of the Secretary General of the Department of Health was increased by €81,000 we warned that, not only did that decision in itself lack transparency, but that there was a real risk of a knock-on effect of similar claims being lodged by other secretary generals,” said Deputy Farrell.
“Without transparency in relation to this we won’t know if this has happened.”
The Galway TD said that in order for the public to have confidence in how tax payers’ money is spent, it is crucial that there is full transparency.
“These salaries must be made public without any further delay. If the Department of Public Expenditure does not publish these salaries due to legal advice, then this legal advice must be made public so that it can be considered.”
