TD Mattie McGrath has revealed that at least €6.5 million has been paid by the various government departments to special advisers and press officers since 2017.
Documents show that government departments splurged millions of tax payer euros on advisers and press officers in just two years and McGrath has called for a review of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform’s Instructions to Personnel Officers.
The outspoken TD who referred to the amount spent as “staggering” specifically called for reform of instructions to personal officers relating to Ministerial Appointments.
McGrath stated:
“They show that in the Taoiseach’s Department alone, a total of 17 advisers have been employed in the last two years, including one communications adviser and four press secretaries.
Meanwhile, in the Department of Health there are six special advisers currently employed, four of whom are on the standard scale for the grade of Principal Officer in the Civil Service (€81,661 – €107,548).
“The salaries applicable to the two special advisers appointed to Ministers of State in the Department of Health is the standard scale for the grade of Assistant Principal Officer in the Civil Service (€64,232 – €78,311).”
He added: “If we compare that to the average salaries that a nurse receives – just above €30,000 – then the contrast becomes very striking indeed.
“I think these costs demand further investigation especially when the government is telling us every other day that there is simply not enough money available to provide ordinary working men and women with better pay conditions.”
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