Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

The Minister told me in the summertime that the pay cap would be €92,672. That is a really good salary and is competitive for any level of professionalism yet the advisers in the Department of the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste's Department are on almost double that sum. One of the other exceptions is, ironically, the Department of Social Protection. This is the same Department that will pursue to the ends of the earth those who it believes are fiddling the system for comparatively paltry amounts. The Minister has answered the question and has conceded that these guys are on big bucks on the say-so of the Minister and the Government. The essence of my question is that they are well ahead of the cap identified by the Minister. The Minister should tell this House when they will be brought down to the level of the cap, bearing in mind that it is a very substantial sum of money.

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