Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The people, particularly public service workers who have endured a substantial cut in their wages and their standard of living, are very conscious and resentful of a situation where a small coterie at the top who are overpaid when employed and over pensioned when on pension, all at the expense of the taxpayer. I do not accept the Minister of State's argument with regard to the emergency measure. It is clear it is something he does not wish to do. Likewise with the TLAC terms. Every time it comes to dealing with people in the service who are on very high pay, it is a case of hands off and it is not possible to do anything.

When it comes to somebody further down the chain, the Government has no difficulty introducing emergency measures that, in proportionate terms, hit those people very hard. That is a political choice the Government makes.