The cost of the Oireachtas including President/Dáil and Senators and ALL associated costs (Members wages, Associated Staff and Facilities) is €115 million per year. When this cost is shared across the 1.8 million working persons in Ireland it works out at €63 per person per annum or just over €1 per week.
If tomorrow, we were to abolish half the politicians it would represent a saving of less than 50 cents per week to every working person. The media need to move on from this argument and engage people in the myriad of more substantive issues requiring attention.
On members pay – the cost is €20 million per annum approx which necessitates a contribution of €11 per year from every tax payer. A 50% pay cut for newly elected TDs as proposed by Pat Kenny (who is on a salary of over €700,000) on the Frontline in March would save every worker 10 cents per week.