Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

Finally, by the time we come to vote on next year's Estimates, there will be no doubt, as sure as night follows day, that there will be a raft of public sector pay demands due to the fact that income is reducing in real terms at the moment. We will see pay demands, as well as increases in pay, happening right across society, unless the Government ameliorates the sources of these cost increases. How can the Minister for Finance, or any other Minister in the Government, have any credibility if he tries to back away from those pay claims in the next 12 months, given that today he stands over a pay hike of €84,000 for the highest-paid civil servant in the country?