Staff in Taoiseach’s office get raises totalling €31k

At least 13 of the Taoiseach’s staff, including the Government press secretary and his deputy, have been given pay rises amounting to over €31,000.

Just one year after taking up their positions, government press secretary, Feargal Purcell saw his salary rise by €3,500 to €119,795 while deputy press secretary Cathy Madden saw her salary rise by €2,941 to €99,236.

The assistant government press secretary, Joanne Lonergan, a former press officer for Fine Gael, had her wages boosted by €3,294 to €89,898.

They were among the staff awarded public-sector pay increments in March and will continue to see their wages rise over the lifetime of the Government.

Two of Enda Kenny’s special advisers, Paul O’Brien and Angela Flanagan, had their salaries boosted by €3,286 to €83,337.

Six personal staff of the Taoiseach were entitled to pay rises. Among them, personal assistant Sarah Moran’s salary rose from €75,390 to €77,884. Theresa Diskin, Pauline Coughlan, and Gerard Deere — all described as personal assistants — saw their salaries rise by over €2,000 to between €66,000 and €69,000.

John Lohan and Anne Marie Durkan, both personal secretaries to Mr Kenny, got pay rises of €1,516, bringing their salaries to €41,749.

The Taoiseach’s chef de cabinet, Mark Kennelly and special adviser, Andrew McDowell, are his highest paid staff members, earning €168,000 each. They did not get pay increases because increments only apply to certain pay scales.

The Government has defended paying increments and has argued that the lowest paid in the public service would be worst effected if they were scrapped.

In an interview with RTÉ on Sunday, Social Protection Minister Joan Burton said she was “open to” finding ways in December’s budget to reduce the cost of running ministerial offices.

The coalition came under fire last December after it emerged it had breached the €93,000 pay cap for at least nine ministerial advisers, all of whom were party insiders.

Enda Kenny came under fire at the time for sanctioning a salary of €127,000 for Ciaran Conlon — the former director of communications for Fine Gael and now special adviser to Jobs Minister Richard Bruton.