Sean Barrett (Independent) | Oireachtas source

-----published by the Government as part of its case to abolish the House, the €20 million. A Senator's salary is €65,000 and multiplied by 60 equals €3.9 million but the Government gets half that sum back in taxes. The salaries of Members of the Dáil, who face a very small cut of under 5%, are 34% higher. The Government wants to transfer the work that we do for 34% less to a more expensive body that lacks the expertise that one gets here. The Taoiseach's Departmental budget for the abolition is €2.1 million which is 84% of what he spent on the EU Presidency. He is very proud of the EU Presidency, and so are we. However, a large amount of money has been spent trying to do away with the House. If the pay of Deputies was reduced to that of Senators one could save about €3.7 billion.

Amazing numbers have been produced. For example, we use €36,000 per year each on computers, €46,000 each on parliamentary draftsmanship, €26,000 each for ushers and stewards. Those numbers have managed to inflate the €3.9 million wage bill paid to Senators to €20.1 million. We should have been given a Green Paper and a White Paper and, as Senator Quinn asked, an interval for a discussion. On the contrary, we have gone for a totalitarian approach. We will lose an extremely valuable part of the Legislature, this House.