Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey has said a Green Party call to reduce the number of junior ministries to cut costs was a measure that should be considered by the Government.
The Green Party said yesterday it was in favour of a reduction in the number of junior ministers, as well as for cuts in allowances paid to Oireachtas members, in order to help gain public acceptance of planned cost-cuts across the board.
Mr Dempsey said the Government needed to look at ways of trimming the cost of running the Oireachtas. He said ministers had taken the lead by accepting a 10 per cent pay cut in last October’s Budget.
"I think the political class has to be seen to be giving a good example and I think [a cut in the number of Ministers of State] should be considered along with a whole range of other measures," he told RTÉ's Morning Ireland.
He said the question of how many junior ministers was required “needed to be discussed” but no decision has yet been made.
Earlier, Minister of State at the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Seán Power said on the same programme he supported the call for a reduction in the number of junior ministries and said he would be willing to step down to cut costs.
The Fianna Fáil TD said were anyone to be asked could the job being done by the present 20 Ministers of State be done by a fewer number in order to save money, “the answer would have to be yes.”
Mr Power suggested the number of junior ministries could easily be cut by between a quarter and a third. “We could run a more efficient operation with a smaller number,” he said.
“We’re asking the Irish people to make major sacrifices and I think as a Government it’s vital that we’re not asking Irish people to do something that we’re not prepared to do ourselves,” he said. “A reduction in the number of Ministers of State would be the right thing to do for the country.”
Mr Power said he would be “more than happy” to step down if asked.
Green Party chairman Senator Dan Boyle said the number of junior ministers should be reduced by “at least three”, but that if it needed to go further, that could also be up for discussion.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen was said to be annoyed by the Greens’ suggestion that the number of Ministers of State should be cut, while Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern was dismissive of the idea, saying it was “facile” to suggest that such cuts would “save the country”.
Minister of State for the Office of Public Works, Martin Mansergh, said he would be prepared to stand down if asked. “I am obviously prepared to place my office at the disposition of the Taoiseach if the decision was to reduce [numbers]. I would go without fuss or protest.”
Meanwhile, in answer to a parliamentary question by Fine Gael’s John O'Mahony figures show that over €8 million was spent on 187 staff for junior ministers.
Mr O’Mahony said this is a “profligate waste of public money” which should have been invested in “putting teachers in schools and nurses in hospitals”.