People are wondering why members are being paid when the Assembly is still in limbo, writes Gerry Moriarty, Northern Editor.
Some people in Northern Ireland are exercised about pay and conditions for Assembly members, particularly as they don't have an assembly in which to sit, and the parties required to make devolution work can't or won't do a deal.
The Daily Mirror in Northern Ireland is running a "Don't Give Them a Penny" campaign and labelling the newly-elected MLAs as "Members Lazing About", instead of honourable Members of the Legislative Assembly of Northern Ireland.
David Dunseith's Talkback programme on BBC Radio Ulster has been inundated with callers complaining about Assembly politicians being paid over £30,000 per year "to do nothing".
There is an unusual amount of cross-community consensus on this issue. "They should be on the dole," is a familiar line. "How can you expect politicians to strike a deal when they are being paid for not dealing," is also a favourite.
There is a legitimate question about whether paying "shadow" Assembly politicians is an incentive or disincentive for them to do a deal. The latter argument is clear, but while there is no immediate prospect of agreement, with or without salaries, there is still some merit in paying the MLAs.
There are numerous politicians who through the barren years of the Troubles were strangers to political pay slips, but nonetheless struggled at the coalface - often at great financial and emotional sacrifice to themselves and their families.
It took blood and sweat from the British and Irish governments and many of those politicians to achieve the Belfast Agreement and its institutions, including the Northern Executive and Assembly. Politicians still have a lot of work to do for their constituents and to restore devolution and, they would reasonably argue, they should be paid for such labour.
Moreover, to guillotine their pay now might indicate that the agreement is bust. That's a message that Dublin and London don't wish to broadcast as they try to chart some route that in the months, and possibly years, ahead will lead to a compromise between the DUP and Sinn Féin, or failing that a new election that might allow the UUP and the SDLP to recover ground.
The issue of representation is a different matter. In Northern Ireland there is one MLA per 15,600 of population, compared with one Westminster MP per 90,000, one Scottish parliamentarian per 39,000 and one Welsh AM per 50,000.
Each TD represents 22,000 people, which is close to the Northern Ireland figure. The representation issue hits the headlines from time to time, but the DUP is the only major party which has pushed for a reduction from 108 to 72 MLAs.
The general governmental view is that if the strong representation and pay for a non-sitting Assembly helps keep the peace and serves as a bulwark against a return to war then let's stick with the project.
The Northern Secretary, Mr Paul Murphy, certainly believes the salaries must continue, but there is an element of carrot and stick. As an interim measure MLAs are receiving just over 70 per cent of their £41,000 salary, allowing them £31,817 per annum. This applies to all MLAs, including former ministers.
But that figure could be scaled down if it becomes increasingly clear a deal is not possible. At the end of the last Assembly, which costs £30 million annually to run whether sitting or not, members were on half-salary.
