Sir, - The Fianna Fail chairman of the Members Services Sub-Committee wants to place TDs on an incremental scale linked to the civil service pay structure so that TDs' pay would be fairer!
TDs' pay and allowances have always been linked to civil servants' pay. In the 1970s, they were linked to the Higher Executive Officer pay rates, in current terms approximately £26,000 max. In the 1980s, they were linked to Assistant Principal Officer rates, in current terms approximately £36,000 max, and in the 1990s, they are linked to Principal Officer rates, approximately £43,000.
Unlike Mr Tony Killeen, I consider this to be a matter of great public concern. This incremental inflationary linkage to selected civil service pay rates is obviously a one-way relationship and surely bears comparison with Caligula's granting a consulship to his horse.
Not alone is their pay excessive but the number of TDs is excessive; their junketeering is excessive; their egos are excessive if they think the public does not care; and, worst of all, their corruption is excessive as the public has found out to its cost.
Next time Mr Killeen places himself before the electorate, he should tell his constituents what he represents, viz more taxes so that he and all those TDs who agree with him can be paid more. - Yours, etc., Mari Barrett,
Castlegar,
Galway.