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The cabinet has approved plans to grant the judiciary a salary increase in line with other increases in the public sector, it has emerged.
There was some concern in political circles Tuesday morning over the move, which comes at a time when the government has been criticized for failing to provide nursing students with full pay rates. It is also understood that the Government has approved plans to restore pensions that were previously reduced.
It is understood that in public sector pensions, the Government will restore previous pension levels for a cohort of people with higher incomes. The Department of Public Expenditure said it would release more information on this later on Tuesday.
In addition, the Council of Ministers has approved an increase in the allocation for party whips which includes an increase from 10,000 to 19,000 euros for the Sinn Féin Pádraig Mac Lochlainn whip. Sources confirmed that Sinn Féin’s whip assistant will receive a raise from € 5,000 to € 9,500.
The whips of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil will receive € 10,000 while the whips of the Green Party, Solidarity, Labor and Social Democrats will receive an endowment of € 6,000.
It is understood that when a party whip already receives an allowance for another pay, such as Fianna Fáil’s Jack Chambers, who receives an allowance as a super junior, they will not receive the full whip allowance.
Sources have also confirmed that a new system of additional payments will begin on Tuesday for the three “super junior” ministers who sit at the cabinet table. They will share between them 32,000 euros in allowances, instead of receiving an allowance of 16,000 euros each. There was controversy earlier this summer over payments to super juniors.
The Government then announced that Mr. Chambers, Hildegarde Naughton and Pippa Hackett “have decided to resign and return to the State the increased allocation that was approved by the Dáil.”
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