Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

I welcome the principle of the Bill but want to make a few comments on it, and it is important they are made at this stage.

As all Members will be aware, the public is taking a great deal of pain in terms of pension levies and pay cuts in the private sector, pension levies in the public sector and tax increases imposed by the Government, and there will be further tax increases imposed in future budgets, perhaps not income tax increases but there will be other tax increases. On that basis it is important that politicians set an example and not only take reductions but take reductions greater than those being imposed on people who are not Members of this House.

I am critical of the way the Government has handled this issue in general. In reality there have been significant reductions in pay and expenses. There has been the voluntary surrender by the Ministers and by many Members of this House. The number of junior Ministers has been cut by 25%; expenses have been cut by 10%; and the paid committee positions have been abolished. This could have been done in a more effective way. It appears to the public that these changes were dragged out of the Government, forced on it by the media and made under duress. That is the real failure. Had the Government announced this full package of measures last November, before the other cuts were introduced, politicians and the Government would have much more credibility.

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