Crowe Questions Taoiseach Advisors ‘Sweetheart’  Pay Deal

Sinn Féin Seán Crowe TD today challenged the Taoiseach on the salaries being paid by the government to  special advisers in his own Department.
In July the Department of Finance published its guidelines which stated that the pay cap for special advisers should be brought into line with the first point of the salary scale applying to Principal Officer positions in the Civil Service. This salary scale ranges from €80,051 to €92,672.

Crowe said that the haves still have it in Ireland  and the Taoiseach’s own advisors will hardly be recommending policies where they ever lose it.

Two of the five Special Advisers employed in the Taoiseach’s Department now earn a salary of €168,000, nearly five times the Average Industrial Wage!

Deputy Seán Crowe said;
“The government is living in a bubble – cut-off from the social consequences of the decisions it takes. Last week the Taoiseach refused to give a commitment not to break the pay cap for the next CEO of the Allied Irish Bank. We discovered at the weekend why.

“The half a million salary will be inflated to almost one million by all sorts of devious devices – the sort of financial sleight of hand and stroke politics that got us into the current economic mess.

“At the same time  the Taoiseach Enda Kenny refuses to rule out any reversal of the cuts to pensioners’ fuel allowance and is prepared to ignore the hurt caused by family stealth taxes, the universal social charge and the household charges.

“Does this government really believe that  paying out these exorbitant salaries to government appointees and imposing harsh financial cuts on families and communities it is providing the kind of leadership this country needs at this time of severe economic distress.

 At a time when families  are struggling to hold onto their homes and put decent food on the table for their children there would appear to be spare cash to keep these ‘special’ advisors on side.

“The reality is that the pay scale set by the Department of Finance is being broken and not just by the Taoiseach’s own department. There are at least 5 other special advisers in various government departments earning more than the Department of Finance scale allows for. It reinforces the view that once again working families are being asked to carry the heavy load when it comes to stark economic reality of Ireland today.The haves clearly still have it in Ireland  and the Taoiseach’s own advisors will hardly be recommending policies where they ever lose it ”