Bruton denies tension over breach of pay cap

JOBS Minister Richard Bruton has denied any tension between the Coalition partners over the breach of a pay cap for his adviser, Ciaran Conlon.

Mr Bruton said his adviser is a man of “exceptional talent” and it was “always envisaged that guidelines would be breached” in such circumstances.

He was responding to fresh revelations that Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin had argued against the awarding of a €127,000 salary to the former head of the Fine Gael press office when he took up the position as special adviser. Mr Howlin claimed there was “no rationale” for breaching the €92,000 pay cap and the rate proposed was “rather high”.