EUROPE MINISTER LUCINDA Creighton has said she understands the concern over the revelation that a former advisor to the Taoiseach was awarded a pay rise which breached government limits at the request of Enda Kenny.
Creighton’s comments follow yesterday’s report in the Irish Mail on Sunday which said Kenny wrote to the Secretary General at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform last March to ask for his former advisor Ciaran Conlon be awarded an annual salary of €127,000.
This is €35,000 more than the €92,000 cap on the salaries for special advisors that the Government previously agreed upon. Conlon was an advisor to Kenny for eight years and is now working for Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton.
Sinn Féin accused the government of continuing the “Fianna Fáil tradition of political cronyism” but speaking on Newstalk’s Breakfast programme, Creighton said the “vast majority” of advisors in government have been subjected to pay limits.
She said: ”Being honest, I don’t know the details of it and I’m certainly not going to comment on something I don’t know the details of.
Obviously, there are clear limits and the vast majority of advisors in government have been subjected to those limits.I don’t know the individual circumstances as to why it happened, but I can understand that it would cause concern for people when they see that in the papers. I’m sure it will be clarified and explained over the next day or two.
“I don’t think that Enda Kenny would have intervened if he didn’t see a direct need for it but I don’t know the exact circumstances of it,” she added.
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