Taoiseach to defer cabinet pay increase
There are “misgivings” within the cabinet over the increases, admitted the source, who did not wish to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
His understanding was that the Taoiseach would now “like to find a way” of deferring the increases.
Separately, PD leader and Health Minister Mary Harney signalled that the cabinet would revisit the issue.
Speaking on RTÉ’s The Week in Politics, Ms Harney said there “may well be issues” around the timing of the increases.
She said she saw “a lot of merit” in the proposal by former Taoiseach Dr Garret FitzGerald of a five-year moratorium on pay increases for politicians.
The cabinet is understood to be unwilling to completely reject the pay increases, as they were recommended by an independent review group and there is a reluctance to undermine its work.
However, several cabinet members now appear to accept that their decision to accept the review group’s recommendations and award themselves the pay increases was very badly timed.
The announcement of the increases came at the same time as the Government was warning the social partners of the need for restraint when talks on the next national pay agreement begin in February.
A few weeks after the announcement, exchequer figures revealed a huge plunge in tax revenues, leading to an increased borrowing requirement in the budget.
Against that backdrop, the pay increases became increasingly difficult to defend.
The Government is now effectively softening the way for an announcement that the increases will be deferred. The announcement is likely to be made some time between the Christmas run-up and the new year.
The increases, which were to be implemented in three phases between now and 2009, would have seen the Taoiseach’s salary rise by €38,000 to €310,000, with ministers’ pay rising by €24,000 to €240,000.
The initial decision to accept the increases was “the biggest mistake” the Government ever made, one of Mr Ahern’s staunchest allies said yesterday.
Eoghan Harris, the political adviser and newspaper columnist who robustly defended the Taoiseach throughout the general election campaign and who was subsequently appointed to the Seanad by Mr Ahern, said it wasn’t too late to reverse the decision.
Speaking on TV3’s The Political Party, Mr Harris said: “The pay rise is the biggest mistake that was ever made by the Government... I’ve said so. I’ve made no secret of it and I think they should give it up.”
