MORE?than half of the country's 60 senators are holding down second jobs, while most have extensive property, land and business interests, according to the register of interests of Seanad members published last week.

While 372,800 people are signing on the live register this month and struggling to find one job, 33 of the 60 senators are 'double-jobbing', enjoying second incomes as solicitors, barristers, auctioneers, farmers, hoteliers, shop owners, journalists, broadcasters and student landlords.

Senators are paid an average of more than €130,000 a year, including a base salary of €74,000 and average travel expenses and allowances of €58,000. Last year, the Seanad met for 92 days, leaving the senators plenty of time to pursue other jobs and business interests.

Last month, employers group Ibec called for the abolition of the upper house, which will cost the taxpayer more than €10m this year in salaries and expenses alone.

The list of 33 senators who admit to having a second job does not include those who say they have no occupational income but hold non-executive positions in various companies. Nor does it include those who have share portfolios or who own land.

Fianna Fáil's Jim Walsh, for example, lists no occupational income yet owns more than 30 acres of development land. Independent senator Feargal Quinn has no job either, yet had a long list of investment portfolios to his name.

Joe O'Toole is also not included in the 33 who have second jobs, although the independent senator does list the pension he receives from his previous job as leader of the primary school teachers' union, the INTO. He receives this on top of his Seanad salary. O'Toole also lists a non-executive directorship of Croke Park and the Rosie Lee restaurant in Limerick.

If all of the above were included, it would push the number of double-jobbing senators up to almost 40, two-thirds of the membership of the upper house.

At the other end of the income spectrum, Fianna Fáil's Lisa McDonald, who admits to having an income from her solicitor's practice in Wexford, notes that the practice was "loss-making in 2008".

In addition to double-jobbing, all but five senators have extensive business interests in Ireland and abroad, including property portfolios in China, India, Britain and Europe. Labour's Dominic Hannigan owns a private villa on Lake Garda in Italy, for example.

Most of the senators also own shares. The two main banks, AIB and Bank of Ireland, and Vodafone are the most popular – though hardly the wisest – stock market punts for members of the upper house.

Eoghan Harris, senator and journalist with Independent newspapers, admits to holding 5,000 shares in Waterford Glass, though he notes that the shares now have "no value" since the company went into liquidation.

Fellow journalist Shane Ross also admits to investing in his employer, Independent Newspapers. Ross also has shares in Bank of Ireland and National Toll roads.

Behind property and shares, many senators also have extensive interests in the third investment group that has dropped in value since the recession – land.

Fianna Fáil's John Ellis tops the landowners' list with 165 acres in Co Leitrim. Ellis is followed by party colleague and non-practising architect Terry Leyden, who owns 90 acres at Castlecoote, Roscommon, and Fine Gael's Paul Bradford who has 55 acres at Mallow in Co Cork.

While the acreage is not specified, Fianna Fáil's Francis O'Brien lists 10 development sites owned in counties Tipperary, Monaghan and Mayo.

His party colleague Jim Walsh, as well as owning farmland in Co Carlow, also lists development sites including 30 acres at Rathfarnham in south Dublin. The Wexford senator also lists property interests abroad, including the Hilton Hotels in the US.

While no monetary value is put on the senators' interests, clearly Feargal Quinn, who sold retail chain Superquinn for €420m in 2005, is the wealthiest. Quinn lists more than 30 share portfolios/hedge funds and property interests in China, India and the US. The independent senator also lists shares in TV station Channel 6 and Select Retail Holdings, new owners of Superquinn.

Not far behind is hotelier Donie Cassidy, who owns Cassidy Hotel beside Parnell Square in Dublin, and the nearby Belvedere and Dorset Hotels.

Fine Gael's Eugene Regan cannot be far from the top of the senators rich list with almost 30 Goldman Sachs-managed funds located in the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, South Africa and elsewhere. Regan also has holiday apartments in Spain and Denmark.