Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

With regard to the pay-related matters it is true we did not accept that recommendation because this would have provided for higher remuneration again. It is true we accepted the recommendation on basic rates which allowed for a 7.3% increase on average for those recommended by the review body. The benchmarking exercise which seeks to relate public service provision for pay and remuneration with equivalent jobs in the private sector took the lower quartile of the private sector equivalents——

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