Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I will be brief in my reply to the Minister of State because I wish to move on to the next amendment which relates to Anglo Irish Bank and is very important. The Minister of State acknowledged formally on the record of the House that the remit of this reduction in public sector salaries is far broader than the pension levy because it will apply to bodies where there is a pension scheme even though people employed or paid for by those bodies may not themselves be in receipt of a pension or be part of a pension scheme. In other words, this applies to people such as contract teachers, part-time staff and contractors in other situations who do not have access to a public service pension or are not so entitled. There are many such examples throughout the public service.

However, by contrast with the provisions of these amendments, and despite the Minister of State's description of a war situation, unfortunately, a High Court judge on a salary of €250,000 is not being asked - or given the opportunity as would happen with the Labour Party's amendment - to offer to share positively the burden of his or her fellow citizens. Fianna Fáil is putting the Judiciary in an invidious position simply because it wishes to create categories of exemption in order to continue to defend and protect its friends in the banks, particularly in its own bank, Anglo Irish Bank, and its, friends, the developers who are being bailed out and for whom public servants are paying the price.

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