Enda Kenny (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I note the comments of the Chief Justice in that regard and I welcome them. The Government and the Taoiseach have placed members of the Judiciary in a very particular position, through no fault of their own. I respect the constitutional provision preventing a reduction in the remuneration of judges' pay. It is necessary that they are seen to be independent from the Executive. That is as it should be. However, the fact is that approximately 300,000 public servants are being told that this is not a pay cut, it is a pension levy.

The advice of the Attorney General is only that; it is only advice. Political leadership, either from the Taoiseach, the Minister or the Government, must make judgments based on the advice given to the Cabinet by the Attorney General, who is the legal adviser to the Government. On a number of occasions in the past that advice has been deemed to be invalid before the Supreme Court, but not from this particular Attorney General. The advice given to the Cabinet by the current Attorney General is only that; it is advice. People are beginning to feel the pinch. Young gardaí, nurses and teachers, who say to me they must live on €90 per week after the contributions have been made, feel a political decision taken by the Government has excluded 148 public sector workers, that is, judges, who must now pick up the traces by way of voluntary contributions. I respect the Taoiseach's comment that judges should be independent but, as the pension levy was made as a result of a political decision in the common good, and members of the Judiciary were included in that common good, they were therefore not being marked out for their independence.

The Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest Act 2009 clearly reflects a political decision that the Minister may exclude persons he or she believes should be included in a particular set of circumstances. If the Attorney General advises the Cabinet that judges' pay should not be reduced, bearing in mind that it would be reduced because of the pension levy, I disagree with that. The Taoiseach has placed the judges in a most enviable position. The Cabinet should have thanked the Attorney General for his advice and decided the pension levy was in the good of all public sector workers. For the 300,000 public sector workers who are not members of the Judiciary, the measure is deemed to be a pension levy and not a pay cut, as per the constitutional issue. The Taoiseach should at least publish the advice of the Attorney General so we can see it. He should be up-front by admitting the political decision taken by the Cabinet based on the advice of the Attorney General amounts to a pay cut dressed up as a contribution and that he has placed the Judiciary in a very enviable position by having to follow on the words of the Chief Justice. Has the Taoiseach any intention of reviewing the advice of the Attorney General on the basis that a pension levy applied across the board is in the common interest? Judges share that view.

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