The latest appointee to the Taoiseach's kitchen cabinet is earning u£70,000 a year, almost u£4,000 more than Ministers of State are paid.
Ms Una Claffey, former RTE political correspondent, took up her position as political adviser to Mr Ahern in November. In the Dail yesterday the Taoiseach said advisers' salaries were based on an additional 10 per cent of a person's existing salary "package", taking into account overtime and special allowances.
The Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, compared salaries for politicians to those of advisers. Did the Taoiseach consider, he asked, that the advice of the Government chief whip and the Minister of State at the Taoiseach's Department, Mr Seamus Brennan, "was worth less than other advice he can purchase from outside?"
The Socialist Party TD, Mr Joe Higgins, asked if the Taoiseach was "so desperate for political advice" that he was prepared to pay u £70,000 from taxpayers' funds for it.
"Since the Taoiseach insists on benchmarking and performance-related pay for teachers, is there a benchmarking system introduced here to assess the quality of the political advice he is getting, and do the results depend on the performance of the Taoiseach?
"If the Taoiseach messes up in future political crises, will there be a clawback of some of the u£70,000?" Mr O'Higgins asked.
At present, according to the Department of Finance, TDs are paid £41,339 annually, the salary for Ministers is £96,455 and £66,096 for Ministers of State.
Mr Ahern said politicians were "totally underpaid" compared to advisers.
Mr Ahern said there were five people who "assist me in dealing with the complexities and volume of Government business" : Mr Gerry Hickey, programme manager and special adviser; Dr Martin Mansergh, special adviser on Northern Ireland, economic and social affairs; Mr Gerard Howlin, special adviser; and Ms Claffey, political adviser. Mr Peter McDonagh is the social policy adviser to the Cabinet sub-committee on social inclusion.
Mr Hickey's salary is £100,985, Dr Mansergh receives £76,580, while Mr Howlin and Mr McDonagh are each paid £52,566.
The Taoiseach said his only political adviser was Ms Claffey "who is working directly to myself". "This is the title I have appointed her on, and the only real difference is that she is working for and answering directly to me," he said.