Martin Mansergh (Tipperary South, Fianna Fail)

-----and awarded salaries that we are not now in a position to sustain. I agree with Deputy Tom Hayes that there has been hurtful and unfair criticism, mostly from people outside this House, against civil servants but the salaries we were awarding ourselves in some instances would correspond to the second highest nominal GDP per capita, which is what we boasted of having, but not to the real world.

While some public service members may be very resentful of what the Government is doing now, the decade of the "noughties" up until 2008 was the best decade public servants are ever likely to have in terms of income and advancement. Our circumstances now require some claw-back sacrifice, and greatest from those who have benefited most. I accept it is tough on most people who are over-committed and over-borrowed on the basis of what was, until recently, reasonable expectations but it is vital we maintain our economic independence and sovereignty, that we make our own decisions, that we show we can cope and that we are able to cut down on borrowing if we are to continue paying bills and not throw in the towel and ask somebody else to do it for us.

As the Taoiseach said in his speech on the budget, there is a psychological element in this. We have taken and accepted pay cuts in the past but they were disguised by inflation and devaluation. We are now paid in a strong currency which does not lose value and in pay terms we are simply going back a few years but not to where we were ten years ago.

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