If you had to cite the number one reason for public resentment of politicians, you could do worse than to point to their pay packets: The basic pay packet for a back bench TD comes to an annual €107,376, or not very far off €10,000 per month before taxes. In addition, the expenses are generous, at least compared to very many private sector jobs, and the Dáil sits for only 40 of the 52 weeks of the year, meaning that on paper, at least, the holidays are about as good as you’d get in teaching – a job where the time off is usually regarded as the most attractive part of the job. All in all, looking at it from afar, you’d think that being a TD is a pretty sweet deal.
All of which makes it all the more notable that so many Fine Gael TDs appear to disagree. When Ciarán Cannon announced yesterday morning that he would not seek another term representing the good people of Galway East, he became the tenth Fine Gaeler to do so ahead of the upcoming election. What’s more eyebrow-raising again is the age of some of the departing ten: Cannon is 58, and conceivably had another 15 years representing what should be a relatively safe Fine Gael seat if he wanted it. John Paul Phelan, who also represents a seat safe as houses in Kilkenny, is just 45, and had a possible 20 or 25 year career in front of him. Brendan Griffin, the sole blueshirted TD in Kerry, is just 42. Joe McHugh in Donegal; just 52 years old. Incidentally, McHugh’s wife, Olwyn Enright, bowed out of her job as a TD even younger. We haven’t even mentioned here former Minister Eoghan Murphy, who already walked away from one of the safest seats in the country at an age not far beyond 40.
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