Sinn Féin TD keeps full salary ‘due to personal financial matters’

Sinn Féin has said it is up to its TDs whether or not they want to adhere to its wage policy of accepting less than half a TD’s salary and using the rest for party and constituency work.

The party was responding to questions in the wake of revelations that the Sinn Féin TD for Dublin North West Dessie Ellis takes his full salary of almost €94,000.

The party and its elected representatives have often pointed to the party practice of its TDs taking only the average industrial wage as evidence of its connect and commitment to ordinary working people.

However, the Irish Independent reported on Friday that Mr Ellis was in receipt of the full TD's salary which recently increased to €93,598. Some of the party's TDs declined to take the recent increase, returning it to the State.

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Mr Ellis confirmed he has received the entire TD salary since he was first elected in 2011. He said the decision was taken due to personal financial matters, and that he intends to change his approach to his pay in the future.

Review of salaries

Contacted by The Irish Times last night, Mr Ellis referred all queries to the party's press office. In a statement, a Sinn Féin spokesman said the party had conducted a review of salaries last year which recommended a wage rate for TDs.

“It is a matter for the party’s elected representatives whether or not they adhere to the recommendation of the party. The party does not oversee the implementation of this recommendation as it is not mandatory,” the spokesman said.

However, it was widely believed in the party that while some leeway was extended to TDs in individual circumstances, all its representatives were accepting the same remuneration of about €40,000 a year. The balance of a TD’s salary is used for party and local constituency purposes, though it is up to each TD how they wish to spend it.

Possession of explosives

Mr Ellis (64) was a long time republican activist before he became a TD. He was a member of the IRA and was convicted for possession of explosives in 1983, having been extradited from the US. The court heard that he had been in possession of multiple power-timer units for IRA bombs, including those suspected of being used in the Hyde Park and Regent’s Park bomb attacks in London.

Suspected by the authorities in Dublin and London of being a leading bombmaker for the IRA, he was later extradited to Britain to face trial on similar charges. During his UK trial in 1991, he said he had helped check the circuit boards of IRA devices, but for use in Northern Ireland only. He was eventually acquitted.

He became a councillor for the Finglas area for Sinn Féin and was elected for the constituency of Dublin North West in 2011, retaining his seat in 2016.