Auction Politics? - Presidential Salary Positions

imme

Senator Labhras, hopeful presidential candidate, has said that he wouldn't take a salary if he were elected president.

This follows on from the position of Martin McGuinness where he said he'd only accept the av industrial wage.

O'Murchu said that he made his decision before the position of McGuinness was made known.

Is this a case of auction politics for the presidential election?

IMO the entry or possible entry of O'Murchu has made the whole election seem more farcical.

This was capped by O'Murchu saying that he wanted to enter the field as he thought it had become a circus.

Victor

We should hold out for better offers of some candidate offering to pay us.

Of course, its easy to say "Oh, I'll do it for X" when the have a free transport, a house and household staff.

Exile 1798

I hope this leads to a permanent change.

Irish politicians are overpaid compared to their European counter parts. The argument that you have to pay highly to tempt the best from the private sector rings very hollow.

Public service is just that, a service. It should attract people who want to serve their community and country, not those who want a huge salary.

I have no problem with the benefits however – these are justifiable given the nature of politics. Also the trade off that people in the public sector make in forsaking larger a salary and potential for a larger salary in exchange for extra security and benefits is one which is well established across the Western world.

Exile 1798

Victor wrote: »

We should hold out for better offers of some candidate offering to pay us.

Of course, its easy to say "Oh, I'll do it for X" when the have a free transport, a house and household staff.

Indeed. But I would point out that transport, a residence, and staff are essential requirements for fulfilling the duty of President, whereas €325,000 in personal income is not.

Manach

Victor wrote: »

We should hold out for better offers of some candidate offering to pay us.

Well, it had been tried in Ancient Rome - the phrase "Bread and Circus", events used to amuse and gain favour of the plebian citizens during elections.

anymore

Manach wrote: »

Well, it had been tried in Ancient Rome - the phrase "Bread and Circus", events used to amuse and gain favour of the plebian citizens during elections.

Here in Ireland they used benchmarking for the same purpose !

raymon

Any FFer or ex-FFer in an independent disguise will not get in whatever their salary.

So Gallagher and o Murchu should not waste their time and money

Strike that , Larry Murphy just pulled out of the race.

Riskymove

I think it should be pointed out that AFAIK no politician as yet actually not drawn the full salary

some simply choose to only take home an amount themselves and do something else with the rest, they are not actually saving the State money

also, making it a non-salaried position would make it more likely that independently wealthy people would be the only ones really interested in running

RandomName2

Victor wrote: »

We should hold out for better offers of some candidate offering to pay us.

Of course, its easy to say "Oh, I'll do it for X" when the have a free transport, a house and household staff.

Who here would vote for Bertie if he agreed to pay us an annual income of €30,000?

Hmm?

He has experience in the Peace Process y'all.

dynamick

The next president will be paid 250,000
McAleese had been paid 325,000 but took a voluntary cut.

dvpower

It should be noted that the President's salary is just one part of the cost of the Presidency (just over 3m)