Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

Deputy Varadkar raised an issue on the Order of business and I will communicate with him about the precise status of the statutory instrument in order that he and the House can consider their options in that regard.

A Civil Service clerical officer on the mid-point of the scale has suffered a net loss in the last three budgets since autumn 2008 of approximately 11.7% of pay. I accept that is a very significant loss. It should be compared to the net loss to those in the higher paid grades. In the same period, an Assistant Secretary has suffered a net loss of more than 24% of pay while a Deputy Secretary has suffered a net loss of more than 27% of pay. The highest paid civil servants, level one Secretaries General, who volunteered to take an additional pay reduction, have seen their net pay reduced by more than one third.

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