THE SINGLE biggest issue Labour Party TDs and Senators dealt with on the doorsteps was the breach of pay levels for special advisers, an internal party survey has shown.
The survey was conducted among all the members of the parliamentary party to find out what issues affecting the party had come up most often on the doorsteps during the recent referendum campaign on the fiscal treaty.
The findings were presented at a meeting of the parliamentary party last night and showed that public antipathy and antagonism towards the pay cap being breached for advisers recruited by Ministers had scored the highest.
“Why put in a cap and then break it? That was the question many of us were asking,” said one TD.
The next three most frequent concerns related to public perceptions of broken promises by the party in Government; a drop in support levels in working class areas; as well as the rise of Sinn Féin in opinion polls.
Party leader Eamon Gilmore and chief whip Emmet Stagg both defended the hiring of special advisers, according to TDs and Senators who were present at last night’s meeting. Mr Gilmore pointed to the situation in France where a single minister would have more special advisers, all paid at higher levels, than the whole of the Irish Government.
The Tánaiste also asserted to his party colleagues that special advisers take the place of permanent Civil Service staff who are sometimes more reluctant to push or pursue a particular agenda. He also said advisers’ pay levels, and the numbers employed, amounted to far less than in the previous government.
Some polling data presented last night showed mixed news for the party. According to one person present, the good news was that there had been a marked slowdown in support seeping to Sinn Féin among blue collar workers.
“The problem is that the support that’s already gone to Sinn Féin will be very hard to get back. The polling information shows we have more potential to recover soft support from Independents and Fine Gael.”
There was also what one member said was almost equal division about making public budgetary thinking so early in the year. Some TDs and Senators argued that Labour should break with tradition and indicate its thinking on the budget early in the cycle rather than keeping a shroud of secrecy until close to budget day.
