A pay rise of more than £2,000 for Northern Ireland Assembly members (MLAs) is “grotesque”, the first minister has said.
The proposals planned for next year would bring MLAs annual salary to £69,216.
The increase will take effect from the first sitting day of the new assembly mandate next May, under draft proposals by Stormont’s Independent Remuneration Board.
Speaking to the media at Stormont, she said: “This issue of wages is not in my agenda. It’s not something we’ve pushed for.”
“It’s not something we’ve asked for and actually I think it looks quite grotesque in the climate that we’re in.”
The proposals follow MLAs being awarded an almost 27% uplift in their annual wages in April – a rise of more than £14,000.
Members of the Scottish Parliament receive £77,711, external while members of the Welsh Parliament earn £79,817 a year., external
At Westminster, MPs earn £98,599 a year, external while members of the Dáil (lower house of the Irish parliament) earn €119,467 (£102,334).
They are all going through the motions of protesting the pay rise but you can be damn sure they’re all going to take it.
Personally I have no issues with paying MLAs a decent salary. It can be a tough job and a lot of other professions pay more for less hassle. But the issue is the public’s perception that Stormont is not delivering so why should they get a pay rise for lack of performance?
But is it the politicians or is the system at fault? You could pay them £1 million each but because the system is so messed up, we can’t assume that we will get better results paying them more.
Managing Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.
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