I don’t recall a time when our parliamentarians were less popular. It is possibly a European-wide if not a worldwide phenomenon. We appear to have become just sick and tired of them all – not that politicians were ever top of the pops.

In recent times, social media has added a newer, more sinister dimension to keeping tabs on our legislators, to the point that if I was walking out of Leinster House, I’d have to have my wits about me.

There may be real signs of a recovery at a macro level but for every positive economic forecast, you will be pointed in the direction of a hospital waiting list, a homeless person or a house repossession to fan that flame of anger and despondency. And those less satisfied tend to make the most noise to drown out the cheerleading.

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So, you can imagine just how unpalatable their recently revealed pay rise sits among the great unwashed. TDs do retain the option of waiving the €2,700 increase legitimately due to them, and many have.

They already earn over €90,000 a year while ministerial salaries cross into six figures. These are pay packets that most can only dream of. But here is the thing – we live in a democracy not a monarchy. When we berate our politicians, we do so tending to forget that they offered their candidacy and we voted for them on merit. Once elected, they are held accountable in a way few of the rest of us are in our day jobs.

Even if they do their best, about one in three will be sent packing at the next election. Yes, there are severance payments and pensions, but unless you are lucky enough to have a job on hold or a family business to fall back on, it’s a huge gamble, particularly if you only last one or two terms.

We have a hang-up about bloated wages in this country

What potentially influential and bright young person with a family and a mortgage is going to take a chance like that?

If we do want the best brains running the country, they are the people who tend to have the top, well-paid jobs in the first place. So, how do we entice them to run? By cutting the TDs salary to €40,000 a year?

Complainers can’t have it every way. You can’t expect to find people able to run for parliament on the one hand and then to only do it for the average industrial wage on the other? The two arguments are non compatible.

We have a hang-up about bloated wages in this country. Some of it is justified but when it comes to attracting the best people to run the country, (whom we elect), critics should be less populist and stereotypical in pointing to an empty Dáil chamber or the long summer recess. Instead, we need to be more realistic about what is undoubtedly the most thankless and the most ruthless job going. CL

A nod to farming

Hats off to Big Week On The Farm on RTÉ One. Anything that can bring the world of farming, food and agriculture to a broader audience is immensely important. So much of a farmer’s life is dictated by bureaucracy drafted in Brussels, with the blessing of MEPs influenced by their paymasters who are not as sympathetic to farmers as in the past. As we move another generation away from the land, the importance of farming to society is in danger of getting lost. The more the public, politicians and civil service know about farming life, the more all can appreciate the value of investing taxpayer’s money in food production. Meanwhile, secondary school principals could do worse than organise showings of Big Week On The Farm for their students and teachers.