Tom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)

No one doubts that this was a difficult budget to put together as we are living in extremely difficult economic times. I have no doubt the Government intended doing the best it could but the way it went about it poses many questions. Workers in the public service are concerned, demoralised and unhappy with their treatment and the large amount of criticism meted out to them. It is very important to have a good public service, as every country needs one, but there is very little hope among public service workers.

Yesterday, the Minister of State, Deputy Mansergh, and I visited South Tipperary County Council offices. One could see the worries on the officials as they tried to do their work. Later when I visited a patient at South Tipperary General Hospital, I met hospital staff concerned, first, about the hospital and, second, about their mortgage repayments. Nurses, teachers and other public sector workers calculated their mortgage repayments on the basis that their salaries would rise incrementally and not be cut back. Many of them are now under financial pressure.

Public servants are also the butt of much criticism unfairly meted out to them. Many of them are committed, dedicated and loyal to the public service. They chose to work in it and give a service to their communities and people. The Government has under estimated the scale of the problem it will have in dealing with the demoralisation of the public service. No one would want to work in a position in which they are not valued. The Government must, therefore, send out a clear signal that it wants a good and efficient public service. Public servants' efforts must be recognised and they should be given hope for the future.

The very fact the Government's cuts went below the knee and hit the lowest paid in the public service is wrong, unjust and unfair. There were other ways these savings could have been achieved instead of hitting those who earn less than €30,000. This was a total miscalculation on the Government's part.

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