Taoiseach to take €28,500 pay cut

TAOISEACH Brian Cowen is taking a €28,500 pay cut and his ministers will see their salaries fall by roughly €11,250 as the Government attempts to demonstrate it is leading by example.

But Fine Gael have accused the Government of attempting to deceive the public by suggesting the pay cuts were much larger.

The cuts were recommended by the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector, which was asked earlier this year to benchmark senior public servants’ pay against their counterparts in comparable European countries.

The Taoiseach’s salary will fall from €257,024 to €228,466 – a cut of €28,558, or 11%.

Ministers’ salaries will fall from €202,676 to €191,417 – a cut of €11,259, or 5.5%.

But Fine Gael said the cuts did not go far enough. Pointing to the fact that public servants earning up to €30,000 will take a 5% pay cut, the party said this meant that a cleaner in a minister’s office was taking the same level of salary reduction as that minister.

Fine Gael also criticised what it claimed was a disingenuous bid by Finance Minister Brian Lenihan to make the cuts seem larger than they were. All Cabinet members took a 10% cut in the October 2008 Budget. This reduced the Taoiseach’s salary from €285,582 to €257,024 and a minister’s salary from €225,196 to €202,676.

But because these were “voluntary” pay cuts, with the Cabinet “gifting” the money to the state, their “official” salary levels were still recorded at €285,582 and €225,196 respectively – even though they were getting less.

When Mr Lenihan announced the pay cuts yesterday, he used the latter figures for comparison purposes. This allowed him to suggest that the Taoiseach was taking a 20% cut because his salary was falling from €285,583 to €228,466 and that ministers were taking a 15% cut because their salaries were falling from €225,196 to €191,417.

The Government defended Mr Lenihan, saying he was quoting from the Review Body report.

“The Review Body specifically stated that they considered it appropriate that the voluntary reductions in ministerial pay [implemented in 2008] should cease and be replaced by a cut in their gross permanent and pensionable salary which had not been changed,” a Government statement said.

“That is precisely what is being done now from January 1 next when ministerial salaries will be subjected to a 15% reduction.”

TDs and senators will also see their pay reduced in line with that of the equivalent public service grades. In practical terms, yesterday’s cut means a TD on the basic salary of €100,190 will see their pay fall by €7,519 to €92,671.