THE Green Party, the Workers' Party and a small businesses' association have condemned the claim by Dail deputies for a salary rise of over £10,000.
The claim submitted on behalf of the TDs maintains the basic salary does not "adequately remunerate the members for their skills and experience, the intense demands of their role, the diverse nature of their work and their contribution to society."
But the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME) said yesterday the TDs' pay claim was an example of "the insiders seeking to feather their own nest".
The Green Party deputy, Mr Trevor Sargent, said the demand was hypocritical, and the Workers Party called it outrageous.
The pay claim has been submitted to the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector by the Sub-Committee on Members' Entitlements of the Dail Committee on Procedure and Privileges. The sub-committee consists of Mr Brian Fitzgerald (Labour), Mr Noel Treacy (Fianna Fail), Mr Jim Mitchell (Fine Gael), Mr Bobby Molloy (Progressive Democrats) and M Kathleen Lynch (Democratic Left).
A consultancy firm, Inbucon, was hired by the sub committee to prepare the claim. It could not be ascertained yesterday how much the consultants' report cost, but the Department of Finance approved £20,000 for the purpose.
The consultants based much of the claim on the findings of a questionnaire sent to all deputies in recent weeks.
The claim maintains that a TD's basic salary of £33,354 is equivalent to £9.05 an hour. It says that deputies work 70 hours a week when the Dail is in recess, and 81 a week when it is sitting.
"Since 1991 the workload has increased significantly. The number of committees has more than doubled and the frequency of meetings has increased substantially."
Oireachtas members received a significant pay rise in 1992. But according to this claim, "the pay increases recommended in the 1992 review body report were inadequate." In 1992, a TD's salary was equivalent to that of a principal officer (higher) in the Civil Service. Now it is equivalent to that of an assistant principal officer (higher).
The assistant principal officer scale goes from £28,000 to £34,100 and that for a principal officer from £37,500 to £43,700. The deputies' claim says their pay should be linked to that of an assistant secretary of a Government Department, whose scale is from £44,000 to £51,000.
The final recommendation of the consultants' report is for basic pay of £43,000 to £45,000. This is "based on an analysis of the duties, responsibilities and conditions of employment in Dail Eireann and comparative investigations of eight European parliaments."
ISME strongly condemned the pay claim yesterday. "Having approved disproportionate pay increases for the public sector over the past six years [the politicians] argue that they are now entitled to `catch up' with what they approved," according to an ISME statement.
"ISME is for a high wage economy whether that be in the public or private sector," the statement said. "The difference is that business understands that remuneration must be earned through profitable trade.
"That is a concept that appears to be alien to those in the public sector who over the past 22 years have accumulated a national debt of £33 billion and benefited from £18.5 billion of EU transfers. During the same period taxes on low and middle income earners have soared.
"ISME would support increases for TDs based on productivity gains, ie, one third fewer TDs with 50 per cent more pay for full time TDs in single seat constituencies."
Mr Sargent said it was "hypocritical and hollow for TDs to be urging wage restraint to allow a new Programme for Competitiveness and Work to be negotiated and simultaneously to announce a demand for a £10,000 wage increase.
"It is true that TDs work very long hours but attention should be given to reforming work practices," he said. There should be fewer TDs and they should not be allowed to serve also as councillors.
A Workers' Party councillor in Cork, Mr Jimmy Homan, said the amount sought by TDs was in stark contrast "to the miserly amounts granted in this year's social welfare budget and the Government's demands for pay restraint on workers."
The demand was "outrageous" and should be rejected, he said.