Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein)

With respect, I do not believe a judgment can be made on the basis of what passed before. It has to be based on how the majority of working people are living through this difficult time. I noticed how the leader of Fianna Fáil's question flippantly asked the Taoiseach to provide details of the cost of the staffing arrangements to him. It does not cost him anything; it is the taxpayer who pays for this.

It is ridiculous and shameful that €300,000 of taxpayers' money is spent to employ constituency workers in the Taoiseach's office. Guidelines on special advisers from the Department of Finance stipulated special advisers' pay should be brought into line with the five-point salary scale applicable to the standard principal officer position in the Civil Service, between €50,000 and €93,000. Why are two of the special advisers employed earning salaries of €168,000, nearly five times the average industrial wage and twice what was stipulated in the Department's guidelines. An gcreideann an Taoiseach i ndáiríre gur sin an sórt ceannaireachta atá de dhíth san am crua seo?

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