Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

I want to highlight two issues which are in the media at present, one being the €1.5 million top-up bonus to Mr. Boucher. For the people in Fianna Fáil, used to the Galway tent, this is small change because they told most of their visitors in the tent that it was a tiny amount of money. However, to the average public servant who is thinking about how they will vote in regard to the Croke Park deal, it is a large, significant amount of money - the Minister can believe it or not. The behavioural, ethical and political issues that it gives rise to, never mind the economic issues, are significant in the minds of most ordinary people.

I do not understand why, if the Government is anxious to secure the Croke Park deal, it has not listened to the clear message put out by Mr. Kieran Mulvey in a series of interviews. He said that ordinary people cannot understand the increases granted to selected staff in Anglo Irish Bank or the pension top-up for Mr. Boucher. Why can they not understand it? If they are public servants, it is because they understand that they took a 5% to 7% pension levy, not to top up their pensions but to increase their contributions to pay for their pensions.

There is an old saying that a cat can look at a king. The ordinary public servant looks at Mr. Boucher and wonders what particular inner track he has with the governing party.

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