Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The Taoiseach and the highest level Secretaries General received a pay cut of 20%. These higher reductions correctly applied to those who could most afford to pay.

There was one group, however, that caused the Government some unease. That group was assistant secretaries and deputy secretaries. They would have been treated exceptionally harshly by the combination of a number of cuts to their remuneration and would have ended up incurring a greater sacrifice of pay than all other groups except the Taoiseach and the two highest paid Secretaries General. That position would have arisen through a combination of the pay adjustments recommended by the review body and the termination of the performance related pay that had been an intrinsic part of their remuneration in the Civil Service and for related grades in other parts of the public service since 2001.

I would like to give the House some background on the performance related pay which has featured in this controversy. In its report No. 38 of 2000, the Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector recommended that the overall remuneration of these grades should comprise a basic salary plus performance related pay. The review body recommended that an overall pool of 10% of the pay bill for the grades concerned should be set aside for performance related pay.

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