Just one of the three TDs in West Cork will decline the pay rise of €2,700, which all TDs are getting.
JUST one of the three TDs in West Cork will decline the pay rise of €2,700, which all TDs are getting.
‘I am not taking any pay rise,’ Goleen Deputy Michael Collins (Ind) said when asked by The Southern Star. ‘I have signed a waiver to the same effect.’
Deputy Collins said he had been ‘consistent’ on the issue. ‘My views are that at a time when the public are struggling to make ends meet, we politicians should not get an increase to this amount.
‘It is totally wrong and sends out a very wrong message,’ the deputy said.
He added: ‘Many politicians say that we give thousands to charities during the year and that justifies taking the increase, and while I agree that we sponsor many events during the year, this increase has come at a bad time when many families are struggling to make ends meet.’
However, both the FG and FF deputies in the constituency said they would be accepting the increase.
‘I will be receiving a pay restoration in the amount of €25 per week in my take home pay at the end of this month,’ said Deputy Jim Daly, while Deputy Margaret Murphy O’Mahony said: ‘I will be taking the pay rise, and using it to support my work in West Cork. I currently have three very busy offices in Bandon, Bantry and Skibbereen. I don’t think it’s a good idea for politicians to ever set their own pay. This was done away with in 2001, and I think the current system of linking TD pay to a grade in the civil service is the right way of setting pay levels.’
Currently, as listed on oireachtas.ie, a TD’s basic salary is €89,965, before expenses.
