Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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We do that work. We need to make sure pay is fair not just here but in every area of the public sector so that one does not find media or public commentary that people are getting paid too much or too little, and we will actually know and be confident in the figures we are paying out. A salary of €62,000 is a good one and is more than a pilot makes. Pilots must work incredibly irregular hours and the job is stressful with a huge amount of responsibility. The lives of people on every flight one takes are at stake and one needs a huge amount of very expensive training that takes a number of years. When I compare those two salaries it seems excessive, but we have nothing against which to benchmark it properly. It is important we do that job rigorously and thoroughly across the public sector in order that we can stand over these payments. Does the figure stand up when one takes into account allowances that clearly should be core pay, as was identified here, taking them on top of core pay and calculating what that actually gives one? That work should be done, but I will leave it on that note.