Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The review body benchmarked their salary against their counterparts in five other countries. The report noted, when comparison was made on an adjusted income basis, the salary of the Irish post of assistant secretary is behind that of four other countries The United Kingdom's is 102% ahead, Germany's, 29%, Belgium's, 6% and the Netherlands', 1% ahead. Only in Finland was the salary level slightly below that of the Irish post.

It is unfair and inaccurate to attempt to portray the effect of the reductions imposed on assistant secretaries and deputy secretaries as involving smaller reductions than those applying to lower paid groups. The resulting adjustments, including the effect of the termination of the scheme of performance-related pay, produced significant reductions in remuneration of 14% in the case of the grade of deputy secretary and 11.8% in the case of assistant secretary. These reductions are higher than those applying to other groups at the lower salary levels and significantly higher than the minimum reduction provided for under the legislation of 5%.

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