Democracy, and its costs: Limp signal on councillors’ allowances

Ireland is not alone in finding it difficult to settle on a fair, yet moderate, scale of rewards — politely known as compensation — for those who put themselves forward for election as public servants.

The roles of the German and Austria presidents are similar — they’re chiefly ceremonial — yet the sums paid to them annually are anything but: the president of mighty Germany gets €242,000 while his counterpart in modestly-sized Austria receives €369,600. Our head of state chooses to take €249,014 of the €325,507 to which the postholder is entitled.