Pay cut for NI Assembly members

Salaries for the 108 members of the Northern Ireland Assembly are to be slashed by £10,000 (€15,600) following the suspension of the power-sharing administration, it was announced tonight.

New Northern Ireland Secretary Paul Murphy ordered the pay cuts which also involves First Minister David Trimble and Deputy First Minister Mark Durkan losing more than £66,000 (€103,150).

The ten departmental ministers, who include Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness, will have their wages cut by more than £34,000 (€53,140).

The new salary scales will come into effect from next week, Mr Murphy confirmed.

“I fully expect that Assembly members as elected representatives will continue to represent their constitutents’ interests and it is right that they should receive the appropriate salary for doing so,” he said.

The dramatic reductions follow last month’s suspension of the institutions following revelations of an alleged IRA spy ring operating at Stormont.

Unionists have vowed not to return to a power-sharing administration with Sinn Fein until the disbandment of the IRA.