The row over plans by the Taoiseach to increase the number of ministers of state from 17 to 20 intensified yesterday with the Labour Party claiming the costs of staffing the three new offices could be about €1.2 million per year.
This is in addition to the salaries the new ministers of state will earn, and the costs of physically setting up their offices.
Labour spokesman on the environment Eamon Gilmore said figures he obtained in reply to a series of parliamentary questions last year show the average cost of staff employed was about €445,000 for each minister of state.
This includes the cost of a private office and a constituency office, which are both staffed by civil servants, political advisers or press officers and two civilian drivers.
A Government spokesman said the Taoiseach is proceeding with the appointments and said a number of commitments to establish new minister of state offices were also made by the Opposition during the three years running up to the election.
Fine Gael at various times promised to establish ministers of state for small business; marine; elderly; animal welfare; antisocial behaviour and immigrants.
Labour promised ministers of state for social affairs and the regions.
The spokesman said the Ministers and Secretaries (Amendment No 2 Act 1977) would be amended to allow for the increase in the number of junior ministers. The amending legislation will be called the Ministers and Secretaries State Bill 2007.
He said the new legislation is expected to be cleared by Cabinet tomorrow or next Wednesday.
Mr Gilmore said there is absolutely no justification for the decision to introduce legislation to allow for the additional junior ministers and said the Labour Party will be strongly opposing the legislation when it is brought before the Dáil. "That is a move designed primarily to allow Mr Ahern to offer consolation prizes to disappointed Cabinet aspirants," he claimed.
While the areas mentioned by Mr Ahern such as immigration and the elderly are very worthy, the Taoiseach could have achieved the same objective by reshuffling the areas of responsibility of the existing 17 ministers of state, Mr Gilmore said.
The plan to appoint a minister for immigration was described by newly-elected Fine Gael TD for Dublin West Leo Varadkar yesterday as "purely cosmetic" as the Taoiseach had no policy to back it up. Having a minister and no policy is merely a window-dressing exercise, he said.