Coalition bowed to public on advisers

Government policy on salary scales for special advisers was changed after public controversy over a series of pay packages that exceeded salary caps.

Under the old system, several ministers — and even Taoiseach Enda Kenny — had made representations seeking to get advisers paid six-figure salaries.

Following this year’s election, the Department of Public Expenditure introduced a new set of rules to avoid protracted and potentially embarrassing negotiations.

It gave a certain amount of discretion on pay rates to individual departments to help avoid the discussions over pay that had proved so embarrassing in the past.

In a submission obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, a senior civil servant explained how pay cap breaches had proved controversial in 2011.

The document states: “In the past, there has often been considerable public comment where the approved pay of special advisers has been above the minimum.

“The current draft guidelines provide that where the necessary sanction is given to starting above the scale minimum, that will be published. This should ensure greater transparency in the process, as well as minimising the consequent administrative burden.”

The document was written after revelations that several ministers had personally written to Brendan Howlin, the then public expenditure minister, seeking breaches of a pay cap for advisers.

In November 2011, it emerged that Mr Kenny had personally intervened to secure a €35,000 annual pay boost for Ciaran Conlon, one of his now former advisers.

Bumper salaries for advisers were also sought by Leo Varadkar, Joan Burton, and Simon Coveney, with 14 appointments made above the pay cap over the course of the previous coalition.

The new documents set out a simpler system for appointing special advisers, giving departments wriggle room.

Advisers can now be moved to any point on a salary scale of between €80,000 and €92,000 without seeking permission from the Department of Public Expenditure. It is only if they want to exceed that level that they would have to make a specific “business case” looking to breach the cap.

The guide says advisers for the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, and “party leaders” in Government are now officially exempt from the rules.

“This provision will formalise current practice,” states the submission, “[and] details of the pay rates to be paid to such special advisers must be notified to this department and also published on our website.”

The guidelines appear to have brought costs down, with most advisers paid within the allowed scale. Only one, Brian Murphy, who works with Mr Varadkar, is paid above it, at €99,370 per year. That package was originally agreed during the last government.

Of the rest, many are at the bottom of the scale at €79,401, with only three paid at the top rate of €91,624.