Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The reason Fianna Fáil will not be supporting the Sinn Féin motion is simple and relates to the link that was established in 2000 by the Buckley report, which conferred independence in respect of the setting of the wages of politicians in the State. This is an independence that is international and which is also done in the Northern Ireland Assembly. That link is important because it means that Deputies or Senators cannot, on a whim, give themselves an increase at a time of their own choosing. That link is utterly independent of the political process and political input. It means that we took cuts when cuts were taking place in the general public service. I acknowledge that the level of our wages is extremely significant but the people here work hard for that and they take the wage that is going. It is important to say that the salary being recovered will bring it back to a level of €92,000, the salary that was paid to Deputies in 2011, 2012 and 2013 when it was paid to many members of the current Sinn Féin Parliamentary Party. They took it. In fairness to Deputy Cullinane, what he does with the money is his own business. When one makes a virtue of not taking a salary and then takes it-----

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