Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)

If that is the case, Deputy Kenny must be keeping it to himself. It is his little secret. That is not the type of leadership the country needs or deserves. It is obvious that Deputy Kenny cannot differentiate between what the country needs and what it wants.

Members have dealt with this matter in their own way. A great deal of attention has focused on former Ministers, most of whom have taken action. There are still a few individuals who have yet to make decisions. In many respects, the debate on this motion is a non-event. The debate we were promised last week has not emerged and instead we have been presented with this motion.

The Minister for Finance has outlined the Government's position in respect of this matter. It is important to note that we took action in a number of areas following the decision of 14 October 2008 under which Ministers agreed to a reduction in their salaries. Deputy Creighton outlined the changes that have been introduced in respect of Deputies' salaries and it is also worth noting that the expenses regime has also changed to a significant degree. It was important that such changes were made. There is little point in our pontificating to ordinary people and asking them to make sacrifices if we are not prepared to take the lead in this regard. I accept Deputy Creighton's point that it is vital to make the conditions attaching to membership of the Dáil sufficiently attractive in order that good people might be encouraged to become Deputies.

The motion before the House is pointless and serves little purpose. There are many more important issues which could have been dealt with. I am disappointed Fine Gael decided to waste an opportunity to tackle one of these and instead chose to move this motion on ministerial pensions.

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