Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael)

The Minister stated that Government members reduced their salaries by 10% last October and that Ministers of State made a similar reduction. Was that 10% of the total salary of Ministers and Ministers of State, including their Dáil salary, or was it 10% of only the ministerial part of it? I understand that the 10% reduction applies only to the ministerial part of their salary and it is stretching the facts to say Ministers and Ministers of State have taken a reduction of 10% in their salaries. They did not. They took a 10% reduction in the additional payment they get on top of their TD salaries, which many people do not realise. It is only right that the public should be made aware of that and that Members of the Oireachtas gave a false impression that the 10% reduction applied to the total amount they get. That is not the case.