Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are in a competitive market for specialists and engineers. I am not going to teach the Deputy how to suck eggs, as they say. We cannot compete with some of the private sector salaries that can be offered. There is no point in saying otherwise. What we offer which is totally different from the private sector is a holistic career, with opportunities for continuing professional development, lifelong education, prospects when they finish working for the Office of Public Works and mobility. People cannot get that in the private sector. As somebody who has worked in the private sector in an engineering capacity and now in the Office of Public Works, it is like comparing apples with oranges.