PAY RESTORATION AFTER a series of salary cuts has created an anomaly where the post of Ceann Comhairle is now officially at least the second best-paid political role in the state after the President.

The Department of Public Expenditure has confirmed that the salary officially set for the Dáil speaker job is now €227,000, more than €10,000 higher than that of the Taoiseach.

It also exceeds the Tánaiste’s salary by over €27,000 and the wages of a government minister by more than €43,000, department figures show.

Discussions took place on the salary level applying to the Ceann Comhairle’s role with the Attorney General consulted last year.

The Oireachtas said that salary levels for such jobs were set by the Department of Public Expenditure and that the Ceann Comhairle had no role in the setting of the pay scales concerned.

However, they would not comment on how much of the €227,000 wage packet was being paid to the current officeholder Fianna Fáil’s Seán Ó Fearghaíl.

A spokesman said: “Members of the Oireachtas may choose to waive receipt of some salary or allowances. Therefore, it should not be presumed that the amounts outlined [in government publications] are received.”

The Department of Public Expenditure said officeholders – including the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Ministers, and the Ceann Comhairle – were paid their salary as a TD plus an additional salary in respect of the office held.

A spokeswoman said: “Since 2009, through a number of measures, substantial reductions were applied to the pay of Oireachtas members and certain officeholders.

“The last of these measures under the Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest (FEMPI) Act 2013 implemented a further reduction with effect from 1 July 2013.”

She said the rates had subsequently increased in April 2017 with the pay reductions steadily unwound over the past five years.

“The pay of the Ceann Comhairle was therefore fully restored on 1 July 2021 to the rate that applied in September 2008,” the spokeswoman added.

During the same period however, members of Cabinet – including the Taoiseach and Tánaiste –voluntarily surrendered 10% of their pay keeping their salary levels below rates that had previously applied.

Those cuts did not apply to Oireachtas roles though creating an anomaly where the post is now officially set as the highest paid political role in the state apart from President Michael D Higgins.

Records relating to the salary anomaly were sought under FOI from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

However, the department refused access to all of them – including communications with the Attorney General – saying they were either created for Cabinet, legally privileged, or otherwise exempt.

According to the latest figures, the salary of the Ceann Comhairle is set at €227,448 per year, ahead of the Taoiseach at €217,106 and the Tánaiste at €200,263.

Senior ministers are paid €183,923 with a small number of ‘super junior’ ministers paid €153,358, and the remaining ministers of state on an annual salary of €141,657.

Salaries for other roles include €182,815 for the Attorney General, €156,827 for the Leas Ceann Comhairle, and €120,618 for the Cathaoirleach of the Seanad.

The Oireachtas has said however that any Leinster House officeholder may have chosen to waive receipt of some salary or allowance, and that the figures can “not be presumed” to be fully paid.

They claim any agreement to waive salary is personal information and have refused to disclose details of any such surrender of pay in the past.