Brian Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

In answer to the first part of the question regarding the cost of the pay award, the Government has also made a decision for next year which sees a 4% savings on payroll costs to be effected. This will ensure an additional payment is not being made out of the Exchequer on that basis in respect of any pay deal commitments that need to be dealt with next year. It is important to point out that the Government has made a number of decisions to ensure the cost of public service pay next year is controlled in a way that does not impose a further burden on the taxpayer. The €26,000 for my Department has not been paid. Pay increases recommended by the benchmarking body are conditional on the delivery of real and verifiable outputs in modernisation and flexibility. These are obviously still in hand.

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