Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)

The Deputy's point is taken but for people who have a part-time contract they are working for the period of time that gives them the legal protection, and they cannot be taken out of that situation. The vast majority of workers in the country now cannot be told to take a pay cut. If it is above the minimum wage, people can and have been told to take pay cuts. I suppose the positive side to this, although it is certainly not positive in terms of the impact on people, is that if most people in the private sector are taking pay cuts - with the exception of those who won their court case in regard to banks, which was appalling - the public sector has to take them as well if taxes are increasing. The take-home pay for everyone is way down. Arguments were made about the impact of the Social Welfare Bill on those least able to afford it today. I put my viewpoint on the record on that earlier but, in general terms, social welfare as a budget had to be cut.

In that context, the amount of money everyone has is being cut. Ireland's standard of living is going back to 2002 levels at worst. The trouble is, as I said in my previous contribution, we were enjoying German standards of living but the Germans are a frugal people. The Germans do not even have a minimum wage, although they do have specific agreements for different sectors. A German doctor, for example, cannot afford to take three holidays a year. One of my colleagues told me he knows of a family on welfare who travel to Anfield six times a year. I do not begrudge anyone anything but at the same time our standards have risen to the point where we are behaving in a manner well above what our national income can afford. It is because of this that we are cutting back. The argument about the banks is for another debate.

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