Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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I would like to be associated with those comments. It was an example of the Committee of Public Accounts at its best. The report was fair and balanced, as people would be entitled to expect from the committee. I also thank Mr. Ted McEnery and the secretariat for their hard work under some pressure from us. It succeeded in exposing some of the myths about public sector allowances. It has become part of the national conversation about those allowances and which of them should be retained and which should be dispensed with. They can now be negotiated around consolidation of core pay. The ultimate comment is that from the point of view of our own allowances, many of the recommendations found their way into the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform's budget speech yesterday. We should be proud that we are part of that debate and that action was taken on foot of that.