Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

I really must take issue with the Minister. It is a scandal what he has done. In his reply to my question he has broken the Croke Park agreement. The Minister and I both know there is a clear commitment regarding low paid workers and that is why they voted for the Croke Park deal. The Minister quoted from paragraph 1.16 of the Public Service Agreement 2010 - 2014 but did not quote the last two sentences of the paragraph, which state:

In the event of sufficient savings being identified in the Spring 2011 review, priority will be given to public servants with pay rates of €35,000 or less in the review of pay which will be undertaken at that stage.

Very low paid workers, those who are taking home between €400 and €500 a week, voted for this agreement on the basis that they would be the first people to get a reimbursement of salary and wages. The Minister stated that verifiable savings of €289 million in the public service pay bill had been achieved. I want the Minister to give figures for the number of low paid worker in the public service earning less than €35,000 per annum. To quote the financial emergency measures to them at this stage, 18 months after they have delivered the savings and for the Minister to thank them for the savings but in the national interest they will not be paid their increase even though they were first in line under the Croke Park agreement-----

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