Regional Independent Group member Seán Canney has said he requested that a travel and subsistence allowance, worth about €32,000 annually, be restored for ministers of State.
The Galway East TD, who is expected to be appointed as a super junior minister with a seat at the cabinet table when the Dáil meets on Wednesday, said non-payment of the allowance penalised office holders.
“In my past experiences as a minister of State, the funding we had was gone, so the ridiculous thing would be if I had to stay in Dublin I would have to pay that out of my own pocket, whereas if I was a TD I would have received a travel and subsistence allowance,” he told RTÉ radio’s This Week.
“If you were going into a ministerial office over the past 10 years you ended up with less of an amount of money to do more.”
‘There could be two cars, but the fridge is empty’: Hidden poverty in middle-class Ireland
‘The phone would ring and it would be Mike Scott from the Waterboys or Bono from U2. Everyone wanted to talk to my father’
The future you: 10 habits to acquire for long-term health and happiness
Hannah Leonard defies expectations after horrific Sicily incident: Doctors kept saying ‘it is very, very bad’
Backbench TDs receive a salary of €113,679, with an additional €45,846 paid to ministers of State and a further allowance of €16,200 for super juniors. TDs receive the travel and subsistence allowance but ministers of State lost out on the payment in recent years, though this appears set to change.
Mr Canney said the matter was not raised as a condition of securing his support for the incoming government. He said he was asking for the “restoration” of an allowance that was previously taken away and it “was not a red line” issue.
The numbers game: ministers, junior ministers and technical groups as the next government beds in
He added that he has been offered a super junior minister role in the Department of Transport with responsibility for roads, ports, rail and international freight.
Meanwhile, Minister for Education Norma Foley has defended plans to appoint an unprecedented 23 ministers of State, saying they are a recognition of population growth and the increased number of TDs elected to the Dáil in November’s general election.
The incoming government is set to be the largest in the State’s history after a decision to create three additional minister of State roles and a fourth super junior cabinet member. This brings the number of ministerial positions to 38.
Asked about the increased number of ministerial jobs on RTÉ's This Week programme, Ms Foley said it was a recognition of the fact “we have a growth in the population and increased representation now in the Dáil as well, which in turn means there is an increased workload”.
The Fianna Fáil TD added that “if we are to truly service the people who elect us then we need a workforce, within the Dáil, within cabinet and junior ministerial roles that can actually do that. We are now at five million of a population and there is a greater number of TDs in the Dáil to reflect that and there is a recognition that more work needs to be done.”
Ms Foley said the issue of the travel allowance not being paid to ministers of State was not raised while she was present during coalition negotiations between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Regional Independent Group.
- Sign up for push alerts and have the best news, analysis and comment delivered directly to your phone
- Join The Irish Times on WhatsApp and stay up to date
- Listen to our Inside Politics podcast for the best political chat and analysis
