So the salary cap means nothing…

Just another lie to keep the public satisfied…

Why not sack the politicians and hire their special advisors. Cut out the middle man!

Absolutely farcical. The government cannot credibly impose new taxes or cut spending while they cannot even stick to the rules they themselves invented to give the impression they are different to the last lot.

This government wants to tax us more ie. property,water and septic tank tax and then they go and breach salary caps imposed an themselves and the arguement they use is that if they don’t breach the cap they won’t get the right people, what a load of bollox. Than screw the ordinary Joe soap just to line their own and their friends nests. Special advisers on arse.

One rule for the electorate another rule for the government. Lousy treacherous self serving sh*ts!!!

I’d like to know what the special advisers do (i.e. What they advise on, the effect of their input).

I believe in fair pay for work, but can we know whether these folks provide the value required for their pay? What would be missing, were they to employ someone who was cheaper and didn’t breach the pay cap?

Ruairi Quinn , admits to it being a mistake , but refuses to do anything about it ! It just about sums up the character of Labour and it’s Socialist non existent principles , who carry out the bidding of its FG Masters , everyday !
Rollover James Connolly , in your tragic grave – shameful Labour.

All a crock of BS!! Why should we pay the household charge etc if they don’t stick to their word on promises they’ve made… Jesus they are worse than the last lot !!!

And yet instead of taking to the streets, we just bend over and take it.

It’s a farce at this stage….

These breaches are a significant error of judgement and display incredible hypocrisy and arrogance.

Here’s an idea. A minister wants to hire a special advisor but will need to breach the salary cap by €25,000 in order to get, who they believe is, the right man for the job. The minister hires the special advisor they desperately need but honours the salary cap by taking the €25,000 extra out of their own, already very well lined, pocket???

So the Minister for PUBLIC SPENDING and REFORM broke the cap of 92k on special advisors… What state is this country in when the minister that is supposed to be watching this kind of reckless spending is doing it himself.
This country will be studied in years to come by economics classes in colleges all over the world as “how not to run a country during a boom/bust situation.

Why does he even call it a ‘Pay Cap’ then!?
Should he not call it the ‘PR Stunt’

Pat Rabbitte looks like he just found out he has a special adviser

Who are these people what are their qualifications, why do we need them ,are public servants not there to advise,why are they giving advice when nobody elected them,who are they accountable to ?
Or is it just more jobs for the boys,I know minister Coveney’s adviser was heavily involved in the FG party and a big fundraiser it seems these are the qualification’s u need

I love how Leo Varadkar’s special advisor earns over the salary cap! Imagine the stupid crap he’d be saying if he didn’t have such a highly paid, competent advisor……..

It’s actually embarrassing to be honest. The eu heads are prob sayin Jesus they are cleaning up there spending but those lot are as bent as a dogs hind leg.

So how exactly does one go about getting one of these “adviser” positions? I don’t think I’ve ever seen them advertised anywhere.

This is the country we live in , we as a nation seem to forget most off this come election time. They will promise us the sun moon and stars and we like fools will vote them in.

Here’s a thought, now this might sound off the wall and crazy, BUT, how about having a minimum eduction to hold a seat in the Dail, like having politicans who are qualified for that role, ie Minister of Finance having a minimum of a Masters is Risk & Finance thus removing the need to pay an ‘Advisor’ €100k plus.

This lark about Mick Wallace, an ex-bulider going bust, owing the State €2m+, getting elected as a TD then saying he will use half of his salary to pay the debt, salary that is being paid by the taxpayer!!!

But hey!, this is Ireland, accountability and standards in public office don’t exist, gravy train anyone ?

Hairy noses, vacant stares, slack jaws – this lot would make a pig sick.

they just dont give a flying ffffffffffff about any of us so long as their pockets are full i wish someone would shoot one of them and then they might cop on

Your slideshow is redundant – we all know what these ministers look like – why not show photographs of these advisers?

Fine dine fine wine big houses huge salaries massive pensions pinstripe suits chauefered mercs big jobs for buds …and all for what ..what are we getting for all these perks..were getting an ever wider hole in which we are all suppose to jump into..sometimes i wonder would an everyday citizen giving the power do the same as these vultures at the top of society and pollitics is it just or culture now i would like to think not..but if we keep saying nothing and reward then maybe we would all be at the same thing given the chance..i think alot of soul searching needs to be done as a country because we cant carry on like this..i envy my grandparents and the people they were….

The job of a government Special Adviser is to get up early every morning and read the 9 at 9 on The Journal.ie. If there is anything in there that’s critical of his/her Minister his job is to call the Minister immediately and devise a PR strategy to turn any bad news into really good news. Then it’s off to lunch, read the papers, listen to Joe Duffy and generally kill time until The 5 at 5 appears on The Journal.ie. Check for any bad news, call the Minister ….. etc etc etc

Lets face it, they need these advisors because they are too dumb to do this job themselves! What surprises me is the shock from the public that they have again lied to the people! Come on now folks their entire election campaign was lies

Stefan, yes taxes for wealthy are at a 20 year low, many paying 14%.

What a disgrace what a waste

Sorry, but what do these special advisors actually do? Is it a case that we just get rid of the ministers and keep the special advisors?

A sickening disgrace, bunch of hippocrites the lot of them.

This might not be popular but I genuinely disagree with salary caps especially when it comes to appointing CEO’s at semi-sate companies. If we wan’t to attract the best people to run our companies we need to not limit our selection pool by enforcing wage restrictions.