FF leader decides to take extra €30,000

Fianna Fáil leader Michéal Martin is to receive an additional

€30,000 on top of his TD's salary this year after deciding to accept an extra allowance available for Opposition party leaders, The Irish Times has learned.

Mr Martin had declined to accept the payment since becoming leader in 2011 but will do so for 2014, a party spokesman said.

The money is provided to Fianna Fáil under the Party Leader’s Allowance, which allocates State funding for political purposes. Fine Gael and Labour also availed of this while they were in Opposition.

Mr Martin's spokesman said last night: "As provided for by the Party Leaders Allowance Act 2001 and in common with both the Taoiseach and Tánaiste when they were opposition leaders, Micheál Martin will receive an extra allowance of €30,000 for his activities in 2014 .

Pay cuts

“He did not take any additional payment from the Leader’s Allowance for his role in 2011, 2012, or 2013.”

Following pay cuts implemented under the Haddington Road agreement, a TD’s basic salary now stands at €87,258 before expenses.

While in Opposition, Fine Gael gave Enda Kenny a salary increase of almost €50,000, while Labour paid Eamon Gilmore and deputy leader Joan Burton a combined increase of €22,100.

Sinn Féin said Gerry Adams was not in receipt of any additional allowance and claimed Mr Adams takes the average industrial wage of €34,900. Mr Adams and other Sinn Féin deputies receive the full TD's salary but divert a portion towards the party.

Salary details
In response to queries from The Irish Times , the four main political parties also released the salary details of their general secretaries, their most senior full-time officials, for the first time.

Sinn Féin general secretary Dawn Doyle “is in receipt of the average wage which is an annual gross amount of €34,900” paid from exchequer funding, a spokesman said.

Fine Gael said its general secretary, Tom Curran, “is paid a salary of €141,000”, also from public funds.

Fianna Fáil’s Sean Dorgan received a wage “linked to the assistant secretary grade in the civil service”. The assistant secretary salary is between €140,000 to €150,000.,according to the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

However, Fianna Fáil said Mr Dorgan is paid on a scale between €119,000 and €136,000.*

The Labour Party’s general secretary, Ita McAuliffe, is paid a salary in line with a principal officer grade in the civil service, between €90,000 and €108,000.

*This article was edited at 8.04am on April 11th. 2014.