Madam, – One should never be astounded at the perks which our politicians bestow on themselves. However, the sheer audacity of the payments to senators revealed by The Irish Timeslast week (Pamela Duncan, Home News, May 30th) left me breathless. Then to add insult to injury, hotelier and businessman Donie Cassidy tries to justify it on the basis, as quoted in your report, that the entitlements were "in keeping with what other high-end earners get in the public sector".
Does Mr Cassidy not recall that, unlike the high-end earners in the public sector, the Senate over his tenure was strictly a part-time job where there were weeks when the house sat for only two days; when on some days there was no legislative business to discuss and after signing on he was free to go back to his real job? Has he forgotten the long summer, Christmas and Easter recesses? Has he forgotten that, as a part-timer in the Senate, he was free for most of the week, had no constituency obligations and had total freedom to pursue his business interests?
Many of his colleagues in the last Senate continued to hold down lucrative jobs and it is ludicrous to equate their roles as Senators with TDs and senior civil servants.
Once again, this emphasises the necessity to introduce a system where a body independent of our politicians and civil servants can benchmark public sector pay and pensions. However, we need not hold our breath on that one.
– Yours, etc,