TDs to cost taxpayers €160,000 next year
The average salary for a Dáil deputy will rise from €100,000 this year to €103,518 in 2007.
This compares favourably to the average industrial wage, which currently stands at 602.35 a week, or approximately €31,322 a year, but TDs argue they work extremely long hours.
In addition to their salaries, TDs are expected to claim an average of €21,271 each to cover travel costs and a further €39,548 each in other allowances and expenses for 2007.
In all, the commission charged with running the Oireachtas estimates it will pay out more than €27 million in total to TDs next year. This amounts to an average of €164,337 for each of the 166 TDs.
The basic salary for a TD is 90,770, but increases in line with time served. A TD with more than 10 years’ experience, for example, will be paid an additional €5,790 to bring his or her salary to €96,650.
In addition, TDs who chair Oireachtas committees receive a further €17,698, while a vice-chair is given an additional €9,051.
Senior and junior ministers earn more than that again, however. In addition to their TD salaries, all ministers receive separate pay packets from their respective departments.
So, for example, on top of his TD wage next year, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern will be paid almost €168,000 from his department, while Tánaiste Michael McDowell will receive approximately €131,000 from his.
The commission estimates that senators will each earn an average of €71,783 next year. They will also each receive an estimated €30,683 in travel costs and €22,333 in allowances and other expenses. This will bring the total bill for the 60 senators to almost €7.5 million.
The country’s 13 MEPs, meanwhile, will be paid a total of €1.89 million, or an average of €145,231 each. This figure includes pension payments. MEPs’ salaries are paid by their home countries rather than Brussels.
The commission estimates that the running of the Oireachtas will cost €122 million in 2007, a substantial increase on the €104.5m budgeted for this year.
In addition to salaries for TDs, senators and MEPs, this figure covers wages and pensions for current and former Oireachtas staff, office machinery and supplies, travel and subsistence, televising Dáil and Seanad proceedings, and grants to organisations such as the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body.
