Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Sinn Fein)

In an earlier debate the Minister, Deputy Noonan, stated in jovial form that one of his colleagues had to bring his payslip with him to the local bar in his pocket to prove to the people in the pub that he was struggling himself. I realise the statement was made in humour but it is important to note that the average Deputy's wage at the moment is nine times the average JLC wage. Roughly 300,000 people work under JLC agreements and they receive on average €18,000 per year in pay. That is a low wage. It is half the average industrial wage, nine times less than the average Deputy's wage and approximately 12 times less than the average Minister's wage at the moment.

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