€800k paid to teacher TDs ‘not significant’

THE €800,000-plus paid to TDs and senators for teaching jobs they have not worked in over the past decade has been described by Education Minister Batt O’Keeffe as not significant.

His comments were made in an Irish Examiner interview in September ahead of the publication by his department this week of figures, showing 17 Oireachtas members shared €314,631 between July 2003 and the end of 2007, an average of more than €18,500 each and €4,112 a year.

Figures previously revealed by the Irish Examiner showed that €498,156 was paid to 20 TDs and senators from April 1998 to about mid-2003, bringing total payments to €812,788.