TDs’ salary to hit €102,204 with €1,000 increase days after Budget

They are likely to receive an additional 3pc increase that will push their salary above €105,000 and get a lump sum of about €2,500 in the following weeks.

Public servants are balloting on whether to accept the proposed 3pc increase and other wage hikes that were agreed as part of a review of their pay deal.

More than 340,000 public servants would be entitled to the draft package brokered by government officials and unions last month.

Talks to review the deal took place after the public services committee of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) invoked a review clause because of high inflation.

TDs are expected to get a lump sum worth at least €2,500 under the proposals. This is because the 3pc increase would be backdated to last February. They would be eligible for the increase as their wages are linked to the principal officer grade in the civil service.

Their pay is already above Celtic Tiger levels, when it reached its highest point of €100,191 in 2008.

Politicians including senators and ministers would also qualify for the proposed increases, although ministers have waived pay hikes in recent years.

A Fórsa explanatory notice for members says the first additional increase of 3pc under the deal will be backdated to last February 2 if the package is accepted.

“This would appear in pay packets as a lump-sum back-payment after the agreement is ratified,” it says. It adds that this is likely to be in November or December.

Another pay rise, worth 2pc, would be paid next March 1 if the deal is ratified, and 1.5pc or €750, whichever is greater, from October 1 next year.

The public services committee of Ictu is due to meet on October 7 to make a collective decision on whether to accept the package.

The review talks had broken down after union negotiators rejected an offer of an extra 5pc on top of existing increases. Following threats of industrial action, the Government made an improved offer.

A Department of Public Expenditure and Reform spokesperson said the pay for political positions, including TDs, “moves in line with adjustments in pay in the civil service as provided for under the terms of public service agreements such as Building Momentum”.

“In this regard, for example, the pay of TDs has for 22 years been linked to that of a principal officer in the civil service and a senator’s salary is 70pc of the TD salary,” he said.

Legislation provides that salaries for these positions are to be adjusted automatically by reference to salary increases in the civil service.