Oireachtas committees cost €6m

TWENTY OIREACHTAS committees cost over €6 million to run over a 14 month period between 2007 and 2008, newly-released information has disclosed.

TDs and Senators serving on the committees were paid just under €1 million in additional pay to their Oireachtas salaries.

The bulk of the overall spend of €6.2 million, however, was the €3.8 million in salary costs for the 59 civil servants assigned to the committees. The average annual salary per staff member was €51,500 during that period.

The figures were released to RTÉ News under the Freedom of Information Act.

They also show that some €2.2 million was spent on legal advice and the recording of committee meetings.

The breakdown shows that chairs of committees earned an average of €18,000 each during that 15-month period, or a total of €490,000.

The 20 vice-chairs collectively earned a total of €275,000 while those serving as whips on committees earned a cumulative €146,000. Chairman of the Select Committee of Members’ Interests Noel O’Flynn defended the outgoings saying that committees had met 580 times during that period and had called 1,500 witnesses.

The Houses of the Oireachtas Commission has announced it intends to reduce the number of committees to 15 as part of the Government’s spending cut-backs.