Plans by Green Party ministers to donate their recent pay rises to the party and to a climate change fund may breach public office legislation, the Labour Party claimed today.
Ministers John Gormley and Eamon Ryan and Minister of State Trevor Sargent have pledged to hand over the controversial pay increases, worth up to €25,000 to each of them, to the party's funds.
Joanna Tuffy, Labour Party
But Labour Party environment spokeswoman Joanna Tuffy said that if Mr Gormley and Mr Ryan handed over their "massive" pay increases to the party, they will be "in breach of the law".
"The Electoral Act 1997, as amended, which Minister Gormley himself is responsible for administering, specifies that a political party may not accept a donation from the same person in the same calendar year which exceeds €6,348.69 in value.
"The Ministerial pay increases amount to around €25,000 per year, so if Ministers Gormley and Ryan hand these full amounts over to their party, they will be in breach of the law," she said in a statement.
"It is hard to believe that as the Minister responsible for administering the electoral acts, John Gormley is not well aware of the donation limit.
"This is a crude attempt to mislead the public and a futile attempt to save the Green Party from the anger the public feel at these massive increases," Ms Tuffy said.
"If the Green Party is serious about doing something on this, then they should bring a specific proposal to Cabinet that the increases should not be implemented for all Ministers.
Mr Gormley, the party leader and Minister for the Environment, last night said the party would "be insisting" that the pay awards mandated by the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Service would be given to the Green Party.
He said some of the money would also go to a climate change fund.
Last year, each of the then six Green Party TDs donated €5,100 of their salaries to the party's funds, according to records lodged with the Standards in Public Offices Commission.
Mr Gormley last night acknowledged public anger about recent pay rises to ministers.
Speaking today on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Gormley said the plan by ministers to give a percentage of their salaries to the party was "nothing new". But he said he was not going to tell his party's partners in Government that they should do the same.
"That's a matter for Fianna Fáil and the PDs - I'm not going to be prescriptive about it. They can do whatever they like, and we'll do what we like. We think it's a good use of the money. We want to set up a climate change fund, and we want to raise awareness about this issue, the biggest issue facing humanity at the moment," he said.