Gerry Adams was the constituency’s top earner
Louth’s TDs and senators have taken home more than €3.4 million in pay and expenses in less than three-and-a-half years.
That’s according to a new report from RTÉ’s Investigation Unit, which has detailed the pay and expenses each TD and senator has taken home between the last General Election in March 2011 and the end of July 2014 – a period of three years and four months.
In total the country’s 166 TDs took home €78 million in that period, an average of around €470,000 each with the bill for Louth’s TDs coming in at more than €2.4m.
There were more than 75 different politicians who were paid in excess of €500,000 each in salary, expenses and other payments in just over three years in office though with three of the five TDs in Louth receiving such a sum.
The highest earner was Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, who received €517,976.64. Next was Fine Gael’s Peter Fitzpatrick, who received €511,838.15, followed by Labour’s Ged Nash on €503,741.51.
Also above the national average was Fianna Fáil’s Seamus Kirk on €486,298.57, while bottom of the pile locally was Fine Gael’s Fergus O’Dowd on €389,961.56.
The three local senators in the area also received €971,927.45 in payments during the same period.
Labour’s Mary Moran was the top earner on €327,540.13, followed by the Fine Gael pairing of Terry Brennan (€323,643.67) and Jim D’Arcy (€320,743.65).
A full breakdown of their payments year by year can be found here.
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