If Secretaries General do not want their salaries published they should “not take the senior job in the public service”, the Social Democrats have said.
It comes as calls continue for Department of Health Secretary General Robert Watt to confirm when he stopped waiving his salary increase.
Mr Watt was appointed to the role in April 2021 on a salary of €292,000. This was an €81,000 pay rise compared to his previous position in the Department of Public Expenditure.
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Mr Watt confirmed that he would waive the pay rise initially, but confirmed in January that he was no longer doing so. He has not answered questions about when he accepted the pay rise.
Due to several public sector pay increases, it is thought that Mr Watt’s salary is now over €300,000 a year.
The Dáil’s spending watchdog the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had called on all Government departments to include their Secretary General’s salary in their annual accounts.
However, TDs were told last week that the Department of Public Expenditure has referred the matter to the Attorney General.
Social Democrats TD and PAC vice-chair Catherine Murphy said that there needs to be greater transparency about civil servants' wages.
“We've signed up to an open governance approach and we seem to be rowing back on that,” she said.
“If people don't want [their salaries] reported, then don't take the senior job in the public service or in civil service.”
Ms Murphy questioned if the Attorney General examining whether or not the salaries should be published is an adequate use of his time.
She continued: “It's not acceptable that we would lack that kind of transparency and it seems to have become more of an issue when there has been a very significant difference between the levels of remuneration for Secretaries Generals, specifically when one particular Secretary General had a very significant increase in their salary.
“Transparency is the issue here. There was, up until recently, two salary levels. That has been changed because of the special arrangements that were put in place in the Department of Health.
“That is the only thing that has been different about this.”
Ms Murphy also confirmed that the Department of Health did not confirm to the PAC when Mr Watt stopped waiving his salary increase, despite several requests from the Committee.
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