John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

According to the coalition partners, the Tánaiste had nothing to do with it. We do not know the position of the Minister, Deputy Ryan, because he did not reply. The Taoiseach gave a very vague answer. Other officials loosely pointed the finger at the Minister, Deputy McGrath. It appears to me that it was certainly less than transparent. Senior civil servants should have cautioned the Government about the road it was taking in this regard because it leads to demands from others for increases in their salary and some of those demands are rightly justified, such as in the case I just mentioned. No one complained about it except to keep it under €300,000 as that was probably the figure best palatable to the public. That is what I am taking from the conversation.