Unless something unexpected happens, the Dail will have sat for just 58 days during the first nine months of this year notwithstanding perpetual crises in law and order, health service, infrastructure, environment, responsibility and accountability. Based on the minimum annual salary of €87,000, the salary cost per TD per sitting day will exceed €1,120. If we double this to cover expenses, then the cost reaches €2,200 per sitting day. Finally, if we assume (generously) that actual attendance in the Dail chamber may average 20%, then the direct cost of maintaining a TD's presence in the Dail chamber rises to about €11,000 a day.
It is noteworthy that UK MPs are paid about the same as TDs notwithstanding that MPs have much larger effective constituencies (66,000 versus 18,000) and that their Parliament meets for many more days a year (150+ versus 90+) and sits for proportionately more hours than the Dail.
Is it any wonder that the electorate think TDs are overpaid and that the Dail is in urgent need of root and branch overhaul.
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