€16,000 Pay Rise For Trio Is A Super-Sized Insult To The Public

It's funny how our three new “super junior” ministers opted for a €16,000 pay rise rather than the round of applause we gave our frontline health workers.

- Joe O’shea

The nurses, doctors, porters, and cleaners who’ve spent months risking their lives to fight the worst health crisis in a century had to be happy with a “well-done lads” from Ryan Tubridy on The Late Late Show.

But Hildegarde Naughton, Jack Chambers, and Pippa Hackett decided that a few weeks into the job, their basic salary of €124,000 just wasn’t enough reward for bravely facing the odd trip into the temporary Dail.

And – in the middle of a pandemic that’s left many thousands of ordinary working people wondering how the hell they are going to pay the next bill – they decided it was time for a little pay rise.

Not that it’s all that little. If you’re in Government, €16,000 might be a bit of a cherry on top, what you’d be claiming in mileage anyway.