Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)

They are younger and poorly paid staff within the public sector. Those who make the point about increments - in respect of which I understand the saving would not be €350 million, which figure is being bandied about by the press - should note the Government is clearly of the view that it needs to have buy-in and support for its reform agenda. There are over 200 actions in the reform plan set out by the Minister, Deputy Howlin, and me. There are dates, timeframes and specific responsibilities set down. If we get sufficient buy-in and support, we can justify this process. If we do not, the issue will be back on the table again.

We are to proceed from having a public service staff of approximately 320,000 in 2008 to having one of slightly over 280,000 in 2015. Over the course of the seven years, 37,500 public servants will effectively have been removed from the entire public service, representing a reduction of approximately 12%. This has an enormous impact. The pension changes we have introduced have a similar impact on the total public sector pay bill. I understand approximately 38% of the total expenditure is on public sector pay and pensions. A reduction of 12% over a period of seven or eight years is radical. If we achieve this, we will have a totally transformed public sector in terms of staff number and base, and also a transformed system for pension cover.

Senator Darragh O'Brien referred to advisers. The total budget for advisers of this Government is 30% lower than that of the previous Administration owing to reductions in the number of advisers. There has been a saving of over 50% with regard to the number and cost of advisers in the Taoiseach's office.

If a person enters the public sector from the private sector to do a specific job for the Government for a minimum of three to five years, he or she should at least be expected to receive the same rate of pay earned in the private sector. This is an incentive with regard to buying in expertise and support.

If one examines the reductions across the ministerial and officer class within the entire Oireachtas over recent years, one will note there have been very significant reductions in pay. The first act of Ministers of the new Government, when it took office, was to accept a further reduction in pay. We have reduced by 25% the total number of personnel in our offices. A former officeholder in my office had ten Civil Service staff. I do not have any civil servants running my constituency now, I have two staff of the kind allocated to all Deputies.

Not only have we said we would take the steps we said we would take, we have taken them. We have more than halved the total cost of ministerial transport. We provide our own cars. I understand the people who work for us now receive one third of that received by the previous members of staff, who were members of An Garda Síochána. I can, therefore, point to savings. They will not make a considerable difference in making up the total deficit we face but we must lead by example.