Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is because the same salary is being paid. Somebody who came up from the country, for example, might want, as he or she gets older and his or her parents are getting older, to be a bit closer to the parents in Limerick, Longford, Mayo or wherever. All of sudden, the teacher realises that he or she could have a much larger take-home pay at the end of every week or month. I am not asking for a London weighting-type concept. I am saying that if Mr. Watt is not careful, significant pockets of Dublin that are full of staff from Facebook and Google who are all on €150,000 a year will be affected. I am aware of schools in Dublin to which teachers drive two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening every day. That is not good for the teachers. It is not good for their families. It is not good for those they are ultimately teaching because the teachers are leaving at 6 or 6.30 in the morning to get to Dublin in time and they are leaving at 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. to head home. That happens every day. It is something that needs to be flagged to Mr. Watt, as head of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform who is responsible for the public service generally, because it is a genuine problem. It will only get worse with every ICT company that comes in. Such companies are great. They pay good salaries. That is great, if one works for them. However, they are forcing everybody else out. I am sure it applies to the Civil Service. I am sure Mr. Watt has staff in his Department who are travelling long distances every day.

Ultimately, Dublin needs teachers, gardaí, nurses and staff in the public service to do the jobs. When we were growing up, people of every civil and public service grade were living in all parts of Dublin. Now it is much more difficult for them to do that on the salaries they are on when they are competing with workers who are on much greater salaries. It is an important point.