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Taoiseach says pay rises will stand  A
DEFIANT Bertie Ahern has rejected calls for substantial pay rises awarded
to him and his Government ministers be deferred or delayed.
It came as Fine Gael launched a blistering attack on the awards made by
a review group.
Mr Ahern’s salary is now ?310,000 making him the highest-paid prime
minister in Europe.
He insisted that his pay rise of ?38,000 would stay as would those of
?25,000 for ministers.
Mr Ahern said: “The fact is that this will ultimately be paid and
it’s better for the Government to be up front with it.
“I’m not dodging it, it’s a high increase and it’s
going to be paid and that’s it.”
Mr Ahern’s salary has increased by 133 per cent during his decade
in office.
The increase comes at a time when the Government is urging public sector
workers to exercise restraint in pay negotiations over the coming months.
A spokesman for the Taoiseach said the pay increases by the independent
review body were primarily aimed at rewarding civil servants and judges
and insisted the political increases were only a small part of the overall
package.
But former junior minister Ned O’Keeffe TD condemned the increases
saying the Government had become bloated and arrogant.
He said: “How can people who are earning huge sums of money and
are wealthy men have any idea what is going on in the real world?
“It’s a joke. We have a raft of unnecessary junior ministers
costing a fortune. We have 23 committee chairs when all we really need
are seven. The whole lot are out of touch of what is going on.”
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