Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour) | Oireachtas source

That amendment was not accepted, however. We can interrogate that matter further later on. There is a strong argument for doing away with that allowance in its entirety. There is no requirement, rationale or justification for it. Ministers of State have private secretaries, which they are entitled to. That has traditionally been the case and should be the case. However, they also have special advisers and up to four additional civil servants appointed to their teams in their Departments to assist with the admittedly heavier workload Ministers of State have. That in itself requires further interrogation. Ministers are not entitled to the travel and accommodation allowance paid to TDs, but the Oireachtas's travel costs are met by their line Department. I do not think it has been clarified - I stand open to correction on this - what type of additional overnight allowance will be paid to Ministers of State from outside Dublin thanks to the new Government deal done with Michael Lowry and others.

Minister of States who attend Cabinet, the so-called super juniors, are entitled to a further salary top-up of €13,145, and that adds up to a basic salary of €172,670 for super junior Ministers. To put it on the record - and the Minister knows - I served a number of years ago as a super junior Minister but I will tell him this. I can remember a time, and I am old enough to remember, when there was only one at the time. There was only one, and also the Chief Whip. There is no requirement or justification for the expansion in the ranks of Ministers of State. It is simply designed to keep Government TDs sweet and on side.

I am not one who complains about the cost of doing politics. That is the road to nowhere and it feeds an anti-politics sentiment in this country and elsewhere. Democracy has a cost, and ordinarily that is a cost worth paying but we have to give value for money and accountability to the taxpayer. Baubles for backbenchers and compliant Independents bought and paid for by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste is no way to do business. in the first week of this Dáil, the Government tried to pull a stroke by attempting to convince us and, more importantly, citizens of this republic that Members of this House who negotiated the programme for Government could take a place on the Opposition benches. It is moves like this that further demean and undermine confidence in politics.

This Dáil is barely a month old now, and we are conferring office on a record number of junior Ministers for no better reason other than keeping the Lowry lot happy. It is shameful, and it is safe to say, as I said at the outset, that this Government is off to a bad start.

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