Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I have sympathy with Senator Norris in some of the issues he mentioned, particularly the principle of paying the rate for the job. Some years back, Deputies' pay was aligned to principal officers' salary, but those rates have reduced significantly in the meantime. I have no objection to the provision in the Bill that Members must request that the money be paid. As it stands, we have a situation where Independent Deputies are talking on various local radio stations about how they are getting €42,000 without even asking for it.