A €300,000 question - Politicians’ pay cannot be defended

Deputy Martin Mansergh’s Dáil question asking how many people are earning more than €300,000 may have been primarily a public relations stunt to justify the recent increases in ministerial salaries, but it was gratuitously insulting to the Irish people.

It was a patent waste of the time of those civil servants who were engaged to find the answer to the question.

The civil servants had to make a forecast on the basis of figures for 2004, because more up-to-date figures are not yet available.