Jimmy Deenihan (Kerry North, Fine Gael)

As one of those who was lucky enough to have a ministerial pension since 1997, when our banks almost collapsed in September 2008 and during the financial crisis that led to the introduction of the supplementary budget, I decided without any prompting that I could not justify continuing to receive a pension. I also took a voluntary reduction in my salary of 5% without making a song and dance about it. It was difficult to speak to those going through major trauma with mortgages and families while being in such a privileged position. We are paid reasonably as politicians to do a good job and we are paid enough to make some sacrifices. When I meet constituents now, they are all feeling the pain. If we are to show leadership, if the country is to recover, we must all share the pain. As political leaders, those who make the critical decisions that influence people's lives, we must be seen to share most of the pain and set a good example.

The Financial Regulator has said that more than 28,000 households are in arrears with their mortgage payments. The ESRI has forecast 270,000 families will face negative equity this year and when the one year moratorium on home repossessions comes to an end, there will be major problems. If people feel a particularly privileged section of the community is somehow protected from these cutbacks and this hardship, they will react negatively.

Personal debt in Ireland is among the highest in the world. The Oireachtas Library research service has gathered information to demonstrate household debt amounts to €147 billion, a staggering amount for such a small country. There has been a lot of focus on Greece lately but we have a higher budget deficit, over 14%. We are in as difficult and precarious a position as Greece. Unless we address this in a way that will require massive sacrifices, it is only a matter of time before our bonds will be considered junk bonds. The focus on Greece could move to Portugal and Spain shortly but it could also move to Ireland.

If we are going to ask people to make real sacrifices, we must make sacrifices now. One element of that should be that those serving in this House and receiving one of the best parliamentary incomes in the world make the small sacrifice of giving up ministerial pensions while serving here. We are expected to make some very small sacrifices. Giving up our ministerial pensions while we still serve in the Oireachtas is a small enough sacrifice to make.

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