New law will be needed to pay all three Super Juniors their top-ups

THE Government will have to pass legislation if it wants to pay all three of its newly appointed Super Junior Ministers the extra €16,000 a year the role attracts.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin last week appointed three super juniors but under existing laws only two of them can be paid at the higher rate.

So he will have to decide whether to change the law or leave one of the new super juniors on the lower junior minister pay scale – which already stands at €135,000 a year.

Each of the coalition government parties – Fianna Fáil, Fine

‘Mitchell O’Connor forced a showdown’

Gael and the Green Party – has appointed a Super Junior Minister to sit around the cabinet table.

And although each of these appointees will be able to discuss matters of state in Government Buildings, unlike their full Minister colleagues they will not be entitled to vote.

In comparison Ministers of State, also known as Junior Ministers, are neither entitled to sit at the cabinet table nor cast their vote when Ministers cannot unanimously agree on major decisions.

Last week the Taoiseach gave his Fianna Fáil party’s Deputy Leader Dara Calleary a Super Junior Ministry when he appointed the Mayo TD as the Government’s Chief Whip.

And Fine Gael Galway West TD Hildegarde Naughton was appointed a Super Junior Minister at the Department of Climate Change, Transport and Natural Resources where she will oversee international travel and road transport.

Green Party senator, Pippa Hackett, from Laois-Offaly was appointed a Super Junior Minister at the Department of Agriculture where she will be responsible for land use.

However, even though these appointments were made a week ago, the Government was this weekend unable to confirm whether all three would be given a top-up allowance worth in the region of €16,000.

Three years ago when then Fine Gael TD Mary Mitchell O’Connor was appointed a Super Junior Minister by then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, it emerged that only two people who held this position were entitled to a €16,000 top-up payment. Ms Mitchell O’Connor ended up not receiving the additional pay for the post.

The Dún Laoghaire-based politician was given a Higher Education portfolio at the Department of Education, resulting in some members of Fianna Fáil threatening to withdraw from the confidence and supply agreement that ensured Fine Gael remained in power.

Among those who threatened to block the Fine Gael TD receiving the top-up payment was Fianna Fáil’s Thomas Byrne, who said at the time: ‘Taoiseach Leo Varadkar made a mess of his Cabinet appointments by attempting to place Deputy Mary Mitchell O’Connor in a position that simply does not exist.

‘It’s clear Deputy Mitchell O’Connor forced a showdown with the Taoiseach and he backed down on his attempt to sack her from Cabinet.

‘Instead he took the lazy option of attempting to create a new position out of thin air.’

The issue of how many Super Junior Ministers were entitled to a top-up allowance was decided following a review by former Attorney General Seamus Woulfe in 2017.

He concluded that unless the government was willing to change the law only two Super Junior Ministers were entitled to the five figure top-up.

TDs start with a salary of €96,189, with full Ministers getting an extra €79,510.

Ministers of State get an extra €38,787 on top of their TD’s salary, bringing it to €134,976, with up to two Super Juniors also receiving the additional €16,288.