Galway West TD Hildegarde Naughton is set to give back part of the controversial €16,000 allowance which was announced for the three “super junior” ministers last week.
The Fine Gael TD, along with Fianna Fáil’s Jack Chambers and Green Party Senator Pippa Hackett, will “gift” some of the money back to the state following controversy surrounding the government’s decision to increase the allowance for a third super junior last week.
On Friday, the Dáil voted to pass legislation for a third junior minister in the Cabinet to receive €16,000 on top of their salary, with previous governments giving this allowance to just two junior ministers.
It was announced today that the additional €16,000 will be given back to the state – meaning the three super junior ministers will still receive over €10,000 each.
This comes after Taoiseach Mícheal Martin announced that government ministers are to take a 10% pay cut.
Despite this, ministers are still due to receive more in their monthly take home pay than those in the previous government.
Mícheal Martin will receive €186,831 per year – nearly €1,500 more than Leo Varadkar when he was Taoiseach.
With the phantom 10% pay cut, senior ministers will still earn roughly €1,000 more than ministers in the previous government.
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