Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 16:

In page 4, between lines 21 and 22, to insert the following:"(3) The combined parliamentary activities allowances paid to a party under this section, shall be reduced by the amount of any payment, that is in excess of public sector pay guidelines, paid to any person working for a Minister who is a member of that party.".

This is connected to our discussions on proportionality and the resources available to Government parties. It also comes in light of general debate about top-up payments. The amendment indicates "The combined parliamentary activities allowances paid to a party under this section, shall be reduced by the amount of any payment, that is in excess of public sector pay guidelines, paid to any person working for a Minister who is a member of that party.". Everybody would see merit in that. Ministers may have special advisers, as that is the way the system works. Where the payments to advisers working for Ministers are in excess of public sector guidelines, it amounts to the equivalent of a top-up payment to a special adviser. There is merit in reducing the payments under the parliamentary activities allowance by the amount of the top-up. It might help Ministers refrain from seeking such payments for special advisers above public sector pay guidelines.
The issue arose in the other committee which I should also be attending now, the Committee of Public Accounts, with regard to Rehab and other organisations which had top-up payments. The HSE recently made it very clear that it would not tolerate paying taxpayers' money to organisations substantially funded by the State which are paying out topped-up salaries to staff. The HSE even threatened a 20% reduction in order to force those organisations to eliminate the top-up payments. If it is good enough for the Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, to act on section 38 hospitals and organisations, the same logic should apply here.
A principled approach has been taken on the issue of payments in excess of public sector pay guidelines by the Department of Health with regard to organisations making payments above those guidelines. These organisations have been told that funding will be reduced unless payments are brought into line. The principle being espoused by the Minister, Deputy Reilly, should be reflected in this legislation as well. It would be very wrong if the message went out from here that the Government or the Oireachtas was opposed to people in receipt of substantial amounts of State funding having a top-up salary but had a different opinion on parliamentary activities allowance, with such payments being made regardless of top-up salaries over and above public sector pay guidelines. There is a clear political point in this amendment.