Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I commend the Minister for bringing formally to the House the decision to abolish severance payments. At the end of the previous Government, it was decided that former Ministers who were sitting Members should forgo the allowance. That should form part of a more general reform that is not provided for in the legislation. I was surprised on the first occasion I was appointed Minister of State to find I had two employers - the Houses of the Oireachtas and the Department in which I served. I was paid two different salaries and I received two P60s. Ministers are appointed by the Taoiseach but the appointments need to be approved by the House. There might be a good historic reason for Departments footing the bill for ministerial salaries but it has never been apparent to me. When I explained to people that I received an Oireachtas allowance and a separate ministerial salary, they were surprised.

In the interests of transparency, when information is provided regarding the salaries of everyone in the House, many people are surprised to find, for example, that the Minister earns the same salary as every other Member but they know that is true. They do not realise they should have asked a second question about the salary from the Departments. To tidy up this procedure, ministerial allowances should be part of a Member's salary. When one is appointed to office, one's Oireachtas salary should increase and Ministers should have one employer.

I refer to an amusing incident a number of years ago. I was not amused when I received the letter but it was amusing that a Department could make this mistake. When I ceased being a Minister, later that year the tax man wrote to me to say I had underpaid the USC. I have never checked the calculation of the charge in my payslip. The Oireachtas had not spoken to the Department or vice versa and the 4% USC rate that applies to the lower portion of a salary had been applied by both the Oireachtas and the Department without me realising it and, therefore, Revenue asked for a refund. That highlights how bizarre the system is, given two Departments could not get right. The notion of two employers and so on creates unnecessary complications and the next time the Minister introduces reforms, he should amalgamate these payments under one Department. He will no doubt be given 50,000 reasons not to do anything because that is always the case. Civil servants provide various explanations as to why something cannot be done and so on. It is time that we did things in a way that is intelligible to ordinary people who are not familiar with the more complicated ways everything works in the bureaucratic system. That would be a small but visible change.

If somebody asked the Taoiseach's Department what is his salary, he could honestly answer he was in receipt of a modest salary because it would not include his Oireachtas allowance. This system is open to misunderstanding and unnecessary duplication. The legislation is an attempt to simplify the system and refers to shared services, etc. I am sure the Oireachtas would be more than happy to write the foot the entire bill for each Member

I have not had an opportunity to examine the Bill in minute detail but I presume some Members will still be worth more than others under the Leader's allowance provision.

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