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€20K top-up for Keaveney/Blaney 26.10.07

INISHOWEN Senator Cecilia Keaveney will receive a €20,000 top up in her wages this year thanks to her appointment to a Government commission.
Senator Cecilia Keaveney. And Donegal backbencher, Deputy Niall Blaney will also boost his Dáil salary by the same amount after being named chairman of the British-Irish Interparliamentary Body.
Senator Keaveney, who lost her Dáil seat in May, has been appointed to the Oireachtas Commission, bringing her €60,000 Seanad salary over the €80,000 mark.
However, newlywed Letterkenny T.D., Deputy Jim McDaid, got nothing in the carve-up.
Deputy Blaney's new post has previously been held by Foreign Affairs Minister, Dermot Ahern T.D; Minister for Children
Brendan Smith T.D. and Minister of State Pat Carey. It will bring bring his Dáil salary to more than €100,000.
He said he was honoured to have been appointed to the position.
“The British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body makes many very useful and supportive contributions to the wider political debate in Ireland and Britain across a range of issues of mutual interests," he said.
“There is no better way to develop mutual understanding and good relations that through open, frank discussions and that is what this committee provides a platform for.”
He said the body had been successful in the past in debating issues concerning security, the environment, and agricultural matters.
Its main function is to maintain the contact between parliamentary colleagues on the two islands.
"Relations between Ireland and Britain are currently at a historically amicable stage and it is crucial that these relations are maintained,” he added.
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