Sir, - So TDs reckon that they are paid £9.05 an hour for working 70 hours a week when the Dail is in recess, and 81 hours when it is sitting. This in a job that requires no special training nor any qualifications. Very onerous! Indeed they find this pay so sparse that many of them feel it necessary to have other jobs, such as the Bar, journalism etc.
Take Maire Geoghegan Quinn, for example. She has great energy. On top of a week's 81 hours (I believe that the Dail is sitting), she presents a radio programme - five hours on air and, no doubt, many hours of preparation. As a result, and unless I am mistaken, M.G.Q. may not be available at certain times to do the job that she was elected to do - representing her constituents in the Dail.
Why am I not holding my breath? I take M.G.Q. merely as an example. Is it any wonder that TDs are held in rather low public esteem? - Yours, etc.,
Llewellyn Grove,
Dublin 16.