Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

In essence, Deputy McDonald has suggested not giving any pay restoration above €65,000. The Deputy particularly focused on not giving any restoration above €100,000. Just under 5,000 public servants earn more than €100,000, which is less than 2% of the total. More than half of those are doctors in the health system. They make up more than half of the people who would be deprived of any pay restoration. We have had this debate previously. It is already proving difficult to recruit doctors and retain them in this country. The Minister for Health is under pressure to provide incentives to get consultants to apply for positions and there are many vacant positions.

I met SIPTU nursing representatives during the week. There are many nursing vacancies because we have created so many posts and they are difficult to fill. So I would certainly not cut or freeze their incomes as the Deputy is suggesting. In order to ensure we have a functioning public health system, we need to pay competitive rates. More than half of the people affected by the Deputy's amendment are people we need in our hospitals. That would not be an outcome that anyone in this House would welcome, as they would be forced out of the public sector. The public health service would come under enormous strain and be even more dependent on the private health sector as doctors migrated to it.

Regarding members of the Government, etc., on the day we announced the Lansdowne Road agreement, we made it clear that Ministers, officeholders and special advisers would not avail of the restoration and the reduction in the pay-related deduction, PRD, provided for in the Bill.