Junior Ministers increased to 20 under Ahern

The Taoiseach has asked the 20 junior Ministers pictured above to resign on April 21st so the Government can reappoint a reduced number of 15 the following day

THE INCREASE in the number of junior Ministers from 17 to 20 was sanctioned by then taoiseach Bertie Ahern after the general election in 2007. The move by the Fianna-Fáil led Coalition led to political controversy similar to that which erupted after the Rainbow coalition – comprised of Fine Gael, Labour and Democratic Left – increased the number of junior Ministers from 15 to 17 when it came to power in late 2004.

Mr Ahern’s decision to add three extra Ministers was derided by Opposition parties as “jobs for the boys”.

Eamon Gilmore, then Labour’s environment spokesman, said the change was designed to placate Fianna Fáil backbenchers who were unhappy about senior Cabinet positions going to the Greens.

Two of the 20 positions are so-called super juniors, with the office holder being a participant in full Cabinet meetings. They are Government Chief Whip Pat Carey and Minister for Children Barry Andrews. Both are expected to retain their positions.

Four of the 20 positions are primarily attached to one department, Health. They are: Mr Andrews; Máire Hoctor (responsibility for the elderly); Mary Wallace (health promotion and food safety) and John Moloney (mental health, disability issues and equality).

Some, such as Mr Moloney and Mr Andrews have responsibilities straddling more than one department. Minister of State for Integration Conor Lenihan, for example, is attached to three departments – Community Affairs, Education and Justice.

There are a number of other junior Ministers with specific responsibilities including John Curran (drugs strategy); Peter Power (overseas development aid) and Dick Roche (European affairs).

There are three juniors attached to Tánaiste Mary Coughlan’s department, Enterprise, Trade and Employment. They are: Billy Kelleher (labour affairs), John McGuinness (trade and commerce) and Jimmy Devins (science, technology and innovation).

Junior Ministers earn some €54,000 each year on top of their basic TD’s salary of €100,000.

However, the costs associated with the office, including their salaries, and pay for their staff and drivers, is estimated to be circa €450,000 per Minister each year.

A total of 187 staff are employed by the 20 junior Ministers at a cost of over €8 million each year. The Minister with fewest officials is Seán Power, the junior Minister at the Department of Communications and Energy, who has six.

The two juniors with most staff are Mr Roche and Ms Wallace, each of whom has 13.

The junior Minister with the highest payroll cost is Mr Andrews, whose 9.6 employees had salaries amounting to €639,000 last year.

While junior Ministers are not entitled to a State car, they are allowed to hire two civilian drivers for their own cars. This is colloquially known as the “half-Merc” arrangement.

The drivers work on a week-on, week-off basis. Each is entitled to earn a salary of a little under €35,000.

The total cost to the taxpayer for this arrangement is €1.3 million each year.

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