A Lot Done. More To Do

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From top: Lynda McQuaid; Fine Gael Minister for Education and Skills Richard Bruton and Minister of State for Higher Education Mary Mitchell O’Connor

Niall O’Connor, in the Irish Independent, reports:

“Fine Gael junior minister Mary Mitchell O’Connor lobbied the Department of Public Expenditure in order to secure a bump up of almost €13,000 in the salary of her new press adviser, the Irish Independent has learned.

New correspondence reveals how an official for Ms Mitchell O’Connor argued that the salary offered to former TV3 boss Lynda McQuaid was too low and should be increased in line with her former earnings at Ballymount.

The original salary offered to Ms McQuaid was just under €82,000 – the first point of the principal officer scale which is paid to the vast majority of Government press advisers.

But after submitting documentation from her accountant, a department official asked Paschal Donohoe’s department to increase the salary to €94,521.

This equates to the fifth point of the principal officer scale, and brings Ms McQuaid’s salary in line with that of Ms Mitchell O’Connor’s other special adviser, Roy Dooney.

Previously: ‘Put In Something About Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation’

Junior minister lands €13k salary hike for her new press adviser (Irish Independent)

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41 thoughts on “A Lot Done. More To Do

  1. Increasing_Displacement

    Unreal…how many average industrial wages tax does it take to pay her?
    Why do these Ministers require such high wages if they are getting all their advise from highly paid advisers?

    Joke

  2. curmudgeon

    Ah life in the public sector, hang on while I tell my new boss that my old job paid more in 2007 so I should get pay restoration. Pretty handy when the companies bottom line is made up of other peoples earnings (tax).

    1. Scoops yeah?

      Starting salaries in the Private Sector are much more negotiable based on past earnings. In no other areas of public sector work are salaries negotiable like this.

      1. curmudgeon

        Uhuh so what about total earnings over time like pensions, job security, holidays, sick leave and of course massive, powerful unions?

        1. Scoops yeah?

          My point is simply, if you are successful at interview for a job in the public sector your salary is predetermined and is not negotiable based on past earnings in the same way it is in the Private Sector.

        2. Daisy Chainsaw

          http://www.publicjobs.ie for all your job security, holiday, sick leave and union needs.

          Stop listening to the guy who knows someone who heard someone tell him that Public Servants get everything handed to them on a gilt edged plate.

  3. Brother Barnabas

    before judging so harshly, you should all take a moment to consider what mary mitchell o’connor has contributed since becoming a minister

    1. curmudgeon

      You realize she was the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation and during her tenure unemployment is at a ten year low so….

      1. Brother Barnabas

        how long did she ‘occupy’ that position for, curmudgeon? because I know for a FACT that she wasn’t even in that department long enough to know people by their names. and like a junior minister’s actions have anything to do with job creation anyway… a big pffftttt to you

          1. Brother Barnabas

            and during that 13-month period, she was at her desk for 34 days – the lowest of any minister, junior or senior

      2. ahjayzis

        She’s the first Minister in the developed world to be in place when a recession actually ended, as all other recessions have gone on forever.

        I was working just a few streets over when the fire in Grenfell tower went out. I wish I’d gotten that close sooner.

    2. Topsy

      She did after all demonstrate how to drive down concrete steps in a car, and that was on her first day ad a TD. An inspirational woman.

  4. street tooth

    she’s paid very well … to do what? Hire advisors? So then what does she actually do? Not really looking for answers, everyone knows they do nothing, particularily FG who are obsessed with PR and spend millions on it. Millions in wasted money because all of their spin has been very transparent, poorly conceived and poorly executed. Only for the Brits are in such disarray I’d call for a ‘Brits In’ plan, because as soon as the Irish were in charge of our own country, our politicians have done nothing but act out of self interest and without care for the actual state or its people.

  5. Jake38

    Ahhh, the public sector. Meanwhile in the IT a beardie from one of the unions is saying the train drivers are going to strike again because they have to register to an Irish Rail email address to trouser a 500 euro gift token extracted from the taxpayer during their last strike. You could not make it up.

  6. capitan leonardo

    I don’t see what her qualifications are for the job. look at the programmes she has worked on. all very light entertainment, reality TV….

  7. Liam Deliverance

    Mary Mitchell O’Connor, as we know, is a waste of space, is Ms McQuaid of any use especially since she has called for a €13,000 increase and a 5 point jump on the scale without putting in the time first. I look forward to seeing her great work in Press Advising and also great work in Special Advising from Roy Dooney. Between the 3 of them they will be making some contributions to society in 2018 I would say, can’t wait to see their efforts.

    BTW why did Ms McQuaid take the job if she wasn’t happy with remuneration – presumably she knew what was on offer, and what happened to her at TV3 that she left?

    Mary Mitchell O’Connor – not one vote in Dún Laoghaire in next GE.

  8. john

    Quite a few. Paul Williams (!) makes more than 100k a year, although journalist might not be the best way to describe him. Fintan O’ Toole would also make more than 100k a year, although, again, he’s more of a columnists than a journalist.

  9. snowey

    “oink oink” says mick wallace.

    and I tend to agree she is useless but not my TD so I can only implore the good folk of DL to oust her at the next election.

  10. phil

    press advisers and other staff hired by politicians, surely they are not considered public servants , are they ? Do they really receive the defined benefit pension and all the other perks?

  11. Andrew

    I wonder what Chris Donoghue is getting?
    The veritable media titan that he is. The gravitas, the experience, the all round respect? Must be massive.

  12. Martco

    the only remotest positive I can take away from this story is at least the cash isn’t being fed into her bar tab. hic!

  13. Lilly

    What exactly does she do? She’s obviously able to talk to talk in front of one of those tedious 3-man (and a fourth taking notes) public service interview boards that got her the gig, but what does she actually do?

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