Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Taoiseach for his response. However, there is no transparency. I respect the fact that he has not yet made some decisions, but there seems to be an incredible number of advisers. There will be three people in the Office of the Taoiseach and in the Tánaiste's office as well.

It is, frankly, a joke that the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade will cost the taxpayer €200,000 because he wants, of all things, a head of protocol and a Garda car and driver. We are going through a pandemic and an economic crash, the likes of which we have never seen. I was part of a Government that picked up the pieces of what happened in 2011. The Taoiseach could look back on some of the comments he made during that time on Ministers, advisers etc.

None of the 20 Ministers of State can have advisers. It would be wrong to put taxpayers through that. I do not have an issue with Ministers of State who will sit at Cabinet having advisers. As Deputy Howlin pointed out in the last Dáil, unless the Taoiseach introduces new legislation, which I am sure he will not do, only two Ministers of State can get the extra €16,288.

How many advisers will there be for the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and the Green Party leader? Will the Taoiseach cut the extra €200,000 that is going to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade? Will he commit that Ministers of State who do not sit at Cabinet will not have advisers, given that they are totally unnecessary in the current economic climate?

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