Baby Minister Bonanza would make boom-time Bertie blush

29 January 2025
  • Each Minister of State costs at least €500,000
  • No objective justification for increased number of Ministers of State

Labour’s Finance & Public Expenditure Ged Nash has said the creation of 23 Minister of State posts would make Bertie Ahern blush.

Figures compiled by the Labour Party show each Minister of State costs at least €500,000. Adding it all up, the starting costs to the public of this stroke government will be over €1.5m a year adding in the new overnight allowance for Ministers of State along with a further Super Junior. That amounts to €7.5m over five years.

Deputy Nash said:

“When I spoke during the election campaign on the need to focus on creating well-paid indigenous jobs in Ireland, this isn’t what I had in mind.

“The boom-time ‘baby Minister’ bonanza is back, and it would make even Bertie Ahern blush. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are prepared to spend at least an extra €1.5m a year of public money to keep Independents and their own TDs happy with new perks and positions.

“This stroke by the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and their partner in government Michael Lowry have absolutely smashed the pre-crash record of 20 Ministers of State.

“By the time the Committee Chair gigs are doled out, we will have in excess of 50 TDs with government sponsored jobs.

“It is as clear as day that there is no objective justification for the creation of these new roles. It is not as if the business-as-usual Programme for Government requires a shed-load of newly minted junior Ministers to deliver on its modest, conservative ambitions.

“This is a self-serving move designed to keep as many government TDs as possible, sweet.

“Since the general election, we have seen the unwelcome return of the arrogance and hubris the country had come to associate with Fianna Fail. This is writ large today and it never ends well.

“While this is undoubtedly a proud day for those who have been elevated, there is simply no justification for an expansion of 15 junior Ministers in early 2016 to 23 today.”

Notes to Editors:

Labour estimates that the cost of each new Minister of State is approximately €500,000 with the all in cost for three new positions, an extra Minister of State attending Cabinet and a new overnight allowance for eligible Ministers will be over €1.5m a year, or €7.5m over the lifetime of the government – not including pension, office or other establishment costs.

 

The cost of a new Minister of State is as follows:

  • In addition to their TD annual salary of €113,679 they will receive a Minister of State allowance of €45,846 bringing starting pay to €159,525.
  • Junior Ministers can hire two civilian drivers with an annualised salary of at least €43,451 annually (as per PQ34911/24) with additional overnight expenses, paid for by their line Department, to drive the Minister’s own personal car. The Minister will have their mileage costs reimbursed which we estimate will be at least €10,000 annually. They retain their two TD staff (PA/AA).
  • Officeholders including each new MOS receive a Special Secretarial Allowance of up to €48,518 from the Houses of the Oireachtas that allows them to either hire an additional staff member (TVE) or contract secretarial or PR services. This SSA is not available to non-officeholder TDs.
  • They may get one special adviser on the AP officer scale (starting at just over €79,000) and a private office of up to 7 (mostly civil servants) including their Private Secretary, while the constituency office may not exceed 3. These staffing limits are inclusive of their two Oireachtas staff and Special Adviser(s). This means there will be up to four additional civil servants allocated per Junior Minister across a range of pay scales which we conservatively estimate will cost over €193,000 a year.
  • Government Ministers are not entitled to the Travel and Accommodation Allowance paid to TDs by the Oireachtas as travel costs are met by their line Department. It has not been clarified what type of additional overnight allowance will be paid to Ministers of State from outside Dublin. The Ceann Comhairle, if from outside Dublin, gets an overnight allowance of €14,700. Our figures are therefore calculated using this overnight allowance but it may be higher than this. This new allowance will be provided to all eligible Ministers of State.
  • Ministers of State who attend Cabinet (Super Juniors) are entitled to a further salary top up of €13,145. That adds up to a basic salary of €172,670 for Super Junior Ministers.
  • Super Juniors also are entitled to two special advisors on the Principal Officer scale (€102,913 starting salary) and the same other entitlements as Junior Ministers.

 

The estimated annual cost per Minister of State, inclusive of Employers PRSI is therefore estimated at over €500,000 a year but will vary, and increase year on year due to the improved position of supporting staff on relevant salary scales. This analysis doesn’t include pension or office establishment and running costs.

Minister of State Allowance €45,846 (no Employers PRSI – Class K)
Two Civilian Drivers (estimate – will have increased since 2022) €86,902 (w/Employers PRSI €96,591)
AP Special Adviser for MOS (more for a Super Junior). €79,086 (w/Employers PRSI €87,904)
Special Secretarial Allowance (TVE – paid by the Oireachtas). €48,518
Overnight Allowance at CC rate (TBC if this is the new payment). €14,700 (assumed new MOS TAA)
MOS Private Office with 4 Civil Service staff (minimum estimate at 1stpoint of salary scale) €174,351 (w/Employer PRSI €193,791)
Mileage – TBC/Varies At least €10,000 a year.
Minimum Cost per year for each Junior Minister €459,403 and with Employer PRSI brings it to over €497,350 before pension, office and other costs.

 

*Private office staffing minimum estimated cost based on first increment for: 1 HEO (€57,122),  1 EO (€36,544), 2 COs (~€30,000 each) plus Private Secretary allowance of approximately €20,685 annually. Each office is constituted differently but staff allocated will be on higher increments on their respective salary scale resulting in a higher cost.

Adding in the additional top up costs for a new Super Junior, their additional special adviser and higher salary costs at the Principal Officer grade, plus an accommodation overnight allowance for all other eligible Ministers of State then the annual costs will comfortably exceed €1.5m a year, or €7.5m over the full term of government.

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