TDs are enjoying a €935 pre-Budget pay boost as another wage hike brings their yearly salary up to €94,535.

Deputies received a 1pc pay rise, which kicked in from yesterday under the current public sector pay deal.

It pushed their €93,599 basic pay up by €935.99 a year. The 1pc wage hike under a public sector pay deal has also increased senators' wages from €66,277 to €66,939.

And politicians and public servants are due another 1.75pc pay rise on September 1 next year, followed by 2pc in October 2020.

However, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his ministers have already waived the increases following a previous outcry - leaving their pay at 2013 rates.

TDs' wages are pegged at the fifth incremental point on the salary scale of a principal officer in the civil service, so they go up when those workers get a rise.

Economist Jim Power said he believes that the public sector unions are "coming back to the trough with very hungry snouts".

However, he said he does not believe that deputies should be left out when public servants are included.

"They're public sector workers, so they're entitled to it," he said. "There will of course be a public outcry because it's a blood sport to have a go at our political classes, but at the end of the day, we elect people to run the country for us, so they are entitled to be paid."

Irish Independent