Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, the reports were that members of the Government were taking a 10% pay cut, but it later emerged that it is not a pay cut at all and, in fact, the Taoiseach will be more highly paid than his predecessor, Ministers will be more highly paid than their predecessors and junior Ministers will be more highly paid than their predecessors. If the Government was a shop which advertised a 10% off sale but it turned out the prices were actually higher than they were a month ago, it would be in breach of the consumer protection legislation. It is an utter joke. The Taoiseach is falling over himself to try to cover up and escape from the public outrage over what happened last week but he cannot even do that right. The same applies to the €16,000 increase, and the junior Ministers will still be getting over €10,000 each. Does the Taoiseach agree it is time for the sky-high pay for Ministers, the Tánaiste and himself to end?

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