Gratuities should be abolished
Every time figures are published in relation to the salaries and expenses that our politicians receive, or when stories emerge with regard to our politicians not doing the jobs for which they are being paid, we hear the well researched argument that “payments to politicians is a price that we have to pay in any democracy”.
Recently when the ‘Sunday Independent’ published details of parachute payments to councillors who retired, lost their seats or were elected to the Dail or Senead, the intensity of the arguments increased in volume.
The payments revealed by the newspapers amounted to €8.4m. of which, a total of €445,885 was paid or will be paid in the future to 12 former councillors in Louth, who are affiliated to almost all of the parties represented on the council and indeed one Independent.
They also include two payments, reaching almost a total of €100,000 paid to two former councillors who vacated their local authority seats when they were elected to the Dail.
In order to qualify for a gratuity payment, former councillors must have served at least two years on a local authority, and reached the age of 50.
There is a scale set down after 2010 for such payments which is based on the length of service on the local authority.
The councillors all point to the fact that these parachute payments are taxed in the normal way, and one member from Mayo this week described the amount of money councillors receive when they resign or lose their seats as ‘peanuts’ when weighed against the amount of work they undertake on behalf of their constituents.
When payment to local authority members was introduced it was argued any remuneration was always construed in terms of broadening democratic representation, and there is little doubt that the system that existed for many decades since the foundation of the State of local authority members undertaking their work without any payment and for “the good of their communities” was no longer tenable because of the demands of the job.
For that reason few can complain about the annual payment (in the region of €18,000) to members of local authority, for in very many cases they earn that money because of the meetings they have to attend and the representations that they are expected to make on behalf of their constituents.
However, the payments, known as gratuities, awarded to former members of local authorities when they are elected to the Dail, or the European Parliament, and in some cases when these former councillors take up high offices of State as Ministers, should be abolished, given the level of salaries and expenses to which they are entitled when they move up the ranks.
Of late the entire question of the remuneration paid to politicians who sit in the Dail has also come into focus because of the voting debacle caused by members who are absent from the chamber when their vote was recorded, and unfortunately this has exposed members of the Dail to a great deal of ridicule.
Of course much of this is not new, for in reality there are many members of Dail Eireann, currently serving, and others in the past, who were far too cavalier about carrying out the responsibilities entrusted to them by the electorate.
Like any other profession, if you are paid to do a job, then do that job responsibly.
Our democracy is a precious thing, and it must be preserved, not abused, or exposed to ridicule in the manner that we have seen recently.