Maurice Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Leader of the Opposition, Senator Darragh O'Brien, raised a question about the salaries of Garda trainees and new recruits. He is quite correct in that new trainee gardaí receive a basic allowance of €184 a week, plus a living allowance of €77.92. After 32 weeks training, they are attested and put on the first point of the garda salary scale, €23,171, rising to a maximum of €45,793 after 19 years service. The garda pay scale does not include allowances and does not reflect the full earnings of a garda. Newly attested gardaí are assigned to front-line duties and work the garda roster, work which attracts unsocial hours payments. Such payments amount to between 25% and 30% of their earnings. Even at the entry level of €23,171 and the lower end of the unsocial hours scale, the payments will add almost €5,800 to the salary of a new garda. This was the reply given by the Minister in the other House. I take on board what the Senator and Senator Paschal Mooney mentioned about salaries. The Leader of the Opposition is quite welcome to table a Commencement matter on the issue. However, these are the facts tas outlined by the Minister in the other House and I do not think the answer would be any different.

Senator Darragh O'Brien also mentioned Fianna Fáil's policy on what he called "higher earners". Fianna Fáil describes those on salaries of €32,000 or more as higher earners. In the past two budgets it voted against provisions for tax increases and benefits for those earning less than €32,000.