The Special Adviser Gravy-Train

ejmaztec

How many of these overpaid characters are there?

When Howlin, for example, was doing his pre-election doorstep crawling, did he introduce his special advisers to the voters, saying something like "As I haven't got much of a clue what I'm doing, these guys will be paid a sh1tload of tax-payers' money to point me in the right direction, so you're really voting for them"?

Officials cautioned Howlin not to pay his adviser €133,600

MARY MINIHAN

MINISTER FOR Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin wanted to pay his own special adviser a salary of more than €133,600 but was advised not to award such a high wage, Freedom of Information (FoI) documents reveal.
The proposed salary would have made Ronan O’Brien, who worked for Minister for Education Ruairí Quinn when he was Labour leader, the best-paid Government adviser outside the Department of the Taoiseach. Mr O’Brien’s salary was eventually settled at €114,000, still well above the recommended €92,672 cap.
A remuneration package of €133,605 had already been approved by Mr Howlin and Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, when the advice from Department of Finance officials was received in April 2011.
It cautioned the figure of €133,605 “could set an unwelcome precedent for future requests for exceptions” and pointed out Mr Howlin himself had recently argued against allowing the special adviser to Minister for Enterprise Richard Bruton a wage exceeding the limit.
This was a reference to Ciarán Conlon, who eventually received €127,000 following an intervention from Taoiseach Enda Kenny.
The advice to Mr Howlin, who is tasked with reducing costs in the public sector, came from the Department of Finance’s administration budget section, which formulated stricter guidelines on special advisers to Ministers after the general election.
The guidelines stipulated special advisers should usually be paid €80,051, bringing them into line with the first point of the salary scale applying to standard principal officer positions in the Civil Service, although they could be paid up to €92,672 – the highest point on the principal officer scale – if they had been earning more than the minimum previously.
The Government also decided that “in exceptional cases” a salary rate above the cap could be sanctioned by Mr Noonan and Mr Howlin.
Referring to the proposed salary of €133,605 for Mr Howlin’s adviser, the advice from officials stated: “iven the intense media interest in ministerial appointees and the high probability that the Ministers will be required to answer PQs in the Dáil regarding the remuneration levels in particular, it is important to signal that some of the proposals as outlined may leave this department and the Ministers open to criticism, as well as setting unwelcome precedents in the sanctioning of personal appointees.”
The €114,000 rate was agreed in May. Mr O’Brien was previously director of communications and marketing at Chartered Accountants Ireland. Mr Howlin’s other adviser, Anne Byrne, is on a salary of €83,337

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0113/1224310196110.html

Sindri

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.


:rolleyes:
Hugely ironic.

Frank Black

If Ronan O'Brien was any good at his job, he should have advised the Minister not to pay him such as big salary as it would be politically unpalatable.

Sindri

Ye'd swear you were reading Swift or Flann O' Brien, some satirical meta-realism shite. Of course nothing will happen and we'll continue on our lives like this was CRM-114.

ejmaztec

Those fuckers must be howlin with laughter on pay-day :mad:

galwayrush

I wish they would use Boards, esp A.H. for their advice, it's free and someone is always right ...:D

ejmaztec

galwayrush wrote: »

I wish they would use Boards, esp A.H. for their advice, it's free and someone is always right ...:D

I'm like a broken clock, right twice a day.:(

ejmaztec

Fuckin hell, Verruca's at it as well, the bollix.:(


Ah! Bisto, chuff chuff

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/frontpage/2012/0128/1224310869737.html

Varadkar sought €135,000 for adviser

MARY MINIHAN



MINISTER FOR Transport Leo Varadkar wanted to pay his special adviser a salary and benefits package worth more than €135,000, documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal.
Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin described the pay rate sought as “rather high” and warned that it could “reopen discussions on cases already settled”. A “compromise” of €105,837 was approved, well above the recommended €92,672 cap.
Mr Varadkar’s adviser Brian Murphy was previously the Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association’s director of commercial affairs. In April 2011, a wage of €80,051 was sanctioned for Mr Murphy, after Department of Finance guidelines stipulated special advisers should usually be paid at this rate, bringing them into line with the first point of the salary scale applying to standard principal officer positions in the Civil Service.
On May 17th, Mr Varadkar wrote to Mr Howlin outlining Mr Murphy’s total benefit package with the IPHA, which included a car allowance in the form of “annual value of this benefit for benefit-in-kind purposes” and a company contribution to his personal health insurance as well as his salary. The figures were deleted in the Freedom of Information documents on the grounds that they contained personal information relating to previous pay.
However, an email exchange dated May 23rd between civil servants was released unredacted and it included this reference: “The salary sanctioned for Mr Murphy back in April was for €80,051. The salary now requested is €135,218. Do you know anything about this.”
Civil Service advice provided to Mr Howlin said Mr Varadkar’s request for a salary of €105,837 with “additional requests” added to the benefit package represented “a reopening of negotiations and if conceded there could be pressure to reopen other cases”.

That bit's a joke, considering the figure that Howlin came up with for his own special adeviser.

ilovesleep

Jesus christ!

lividduck

Feck sake lads, the ministers are creating jobs and yer still complaining!:D

mikemac1

Howlin's buddy got it, now he has to tell the rest of the ministers they can't do the same

Do I laugh or do I get angry?
I'll settle on disappointment, they're not even in power a year and the messing is rife

henryporter

Funny - when I need some advice to do my job better I normally have to pay for it myself, why can't these effers do the same?

Nodin

ejmaztec wrote: »

How many of these overpaid characters are there?

A goodly number.

This is a decent round up.
http://itsapoliticalworld.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/irish-government-special-advisers-the-list/

doomed

This is all very puzzling. If Civil Servants are overpaid vis a vis the private sector why is it the case that special advisors have to be paid a lot more than those in situ?

mikemac1

Good article

The guy who struck me as the best qualified on that list was the CEO of Greencore USA. But he quit, maybe he knows something the rest of them don't

Some of the others are parliamentary assistants, what's that? A PA and secretary?

Not as impressive as running Greencore

ejmaztec

Nodin wrote: »

A goodly number.

This is a decent round up.
http://itsapoliticalworld.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/irish-government-special-advisers-the-list/

An Taoiseach Enda Kenny has appointed four to his “kitchen cabinet”. They will cost the taxpayer €440,000 a year.

I would have expected that, for €440K, one or all of them to have advised him to keep his trap shut at Davos.

biko

Not even Mugabe gets up to these tricks I'm sure.

ejmaztec

biko wrote: »

Not even Mugabe gets up to these tricks I'm sure.

He doesn't seem the kind of person who takes kindly to advice, so probably hasn't recruited any.

next time we should just put the special advisers in the job.!!


Gas place we live in , paying two or three people to do one F****** job.

How dare they run for election if they cant do the job on their own without their hands being held.

JAYSUS.:mad::mad::mad:

Nodin

doomed wrote: »

This is all very puzzling. If Civil Servants are overpaid vis a vis the private sector why is it the case that special advisors have to be paid a lot more than those in situ?

Because they're mates of the current shower and/or connected to the ruling party I have no idea.

steddyeddy

Advisor?? Why do they need an advisor on that much money? Its not brain surgury its politics. What is the advisor telling them thats worth >100,000 euro, theres people researching cures for cancer who are on less than that!

ejmaztec

steddyeddy wrote: »

Advisor?? Why do they need an advisor on that much money? Its not brain surgury its politics. What is the advisor telling them thats worth >100,000 euro, theres people researching cures for cancer who are on less than that!

They probably advise on important issues, like when Enda asks "Does my bum look big in these pants?"

My name is URL

If Veruca etc feel that their advisors require more than the €92K cap to help them fulfill their duties then let them pay the difference from their own pockets.