Plans to create several new committees will ensure that almost every backbench TD in the Fianna Fail parliamentary party will receive an allowance ranging from 6,072 to 19,058. These payments are on top of their Dail salary of 98,000.

Having already increased the number of junior minister positions, the government is now expected to add to the 92 committee positions available in the last Dail for TDs who are not ministers.

With the government generally controlling almost all chairperson positions, the committee appointments are an important mechanism for Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to appease disgruntled backbenchers disappointed at not receiving a ministerial post.

Of the 78 Fianna Fail TDs in place after last May's general election, 12 are members of the cabinet, one is ceann comhairle and another 19 are junior ministers. Most of the remaining 46 backbench TDs in Fianna Fail will receive an additional paid committee position in the coming weeks.

Among those tipped for appointment are former ministers Mary O'Rourke, Rory O'Hanlon and Noel Tracey, as well as longstanding deputies Johnny Brady, MJ Nolan and Sean Ardagh. A number of TDs first elected in 2002, including Barry Andrews and Peter Power, have also been speculated about in Fianna Fail circles. Observers will be watching to see the fate of veteran TD Ned O'Keefe who missed the recent Dail confidence in the Taoiseach motion.

Green Party TD Ciaran Cuffe and possibly Noel Grealish of the PDs are also expected to fill senior committee positions.

The most lucrative positions are committee chairs which currently carry an allowance of 19,058. The vice-chairs of most of these committees are paid 9,747, while those TDs appointed as committee whips receive a 6,072 payment.

Many committees allocate specific work to smaller sub-committees, the chairpersons of which are also paid an additional 6,072. TDs and senators are also paid travel and subsistence for attendance at Leinster House for committee meetings.

The existing 92 positions break down into 20 committee chairs, 17 vice-chairs and 14 whips, along with another 11 chairpersons of various subcommittees. For example, the chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Affairs receives an annual payment of 19,058, as well as a 15,255 allowance.

The committee vice-chairman is paid 9,747 and the committee whip gets 6,072. The Foreign Affairs Committee has two sub-committees and the chairperson of each is paid an additional 6,072.

The number of Oireachtas committees has increased since Ahern was first elected Taoiseach. Back in 1999, there were just 15 committees. That figure increased to 20 after 2002, with several more expected to be announced in the coming weeks. The committees are tasked with monitoring legislation, but in the last number of years many of them have filled their time hearing representations from various lobby groups.

Ahern delayed the appointment of the committee positions over the summer months to keep backbenchers on their toes, and to reduce the possibility of those disappointed at being by-passed for ministerial promotion stepping out of line. The continued delay is also largely due to a stand-off between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael over a new committee structure and the appointment of the key positions. With increased Dail numbers, Fine Gael is seeking the right to nominate several chairperson positions. By tradition, the position of chairperson of the high-profile Public Accounts Committee has been filled by the largest opposition party, but the government of the day controls all other appointments and also the work agenda of the committees. The stand-off will be debated in the Dail this week, with a compromise likely with the creation of several new committees. It may now be well into November before the new committees are appointed, five months after the election of the new government.

Figures released last week by the Oireachas Press Office also show that the various parliamentary whips appointed to oversee Dail business and monitor votes in the chamber share annual payments of just under 90,000. The assistant government whip receives a 15,255 annual allowance, the same as the Labour Party whip, while the Fine Gael whip is paid 19,058. The whips of the smaller parties each receive 6,072, while the assistant whips of all the main parties are also in receipt of payments ranging from 4,237 to 9,747.

There are also payments to senators, including the Fine Gael leader in the Seanad who is paid an additional 9,747, and the leader of the independent group of university senators, who receives 6,072. The whip to this six-member independent group also gets 4,237.