Mr. Tom Geraghty:

My point relates to the point made by Deputy McCarthy. Before he made that point, I wanted to broaden out the answer to the question about earnings. This is something one will struggle to hear in public discourse. One might be forgiven, when one hears the constant attacks on the Croke Park agreement, for believing there is some sort of pay bonanza in the public service. In fact, if one looks at the reply given by the Minister to a question asked by a Deputy recently, some 82% of public servants earn less than €60,000 including allowances, and more than 40% of them earn less than €40,000 including allowances. The fact we are having this discussion on allowances highlights the general impression that exists that these are some sort of bonanza. However, that is not borne out by the reality. Earnings in the public service are not excessive by any consideration.