Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)

I wish to raise an issue which specifically relates to women in the civil and public service. Has the Bill been gender proofed? I raise this matter because many women and some men have what might be deemed to be disjointed careers. In other words, they might take time off from work to care for children or elderly relatives or for some similar reason. As a result of, their period of service is broken. In calculating final pensions, to what extent have work patterns such as that to which I refer been considered? If the Minister has not already done the maths, I strongly urge him to do so in advance of Committee Stage.

There is a particular anomaly about which I am concerned and which is noted in the excellent digest produced to accompany the Bill. It relates to workers who accrue more entitlements than they might be able to claim. Those involved in this regard are individuals who move down grades. The example offered in the digest refers to a head teacher who might choose to spend the final years of his or her career working as a careers adviser and states his or her salary would be limited to half of his or her final careers adviser salary. The anomaly to which I refer is to be found in the current scheme and section 19 of the Bill will ensure it will be carried forward into the new single scheme. I urge the Minister to give consideration to this matter.

The elephant in the room is the fact that the new legislation does not address the inequities in the existing scheme. As stated, we are moving towards a system under which there will be a two-tier workforce in the civil and public service. That is not good news for the workers or taxpayers. The scheme deals with new entrants only and fails to tackle the scandalous practice of excessive pay and pension arrangements for the big hitters across the civil and public service. The Bill includes provision for cuts to pay. However, when the average citizen examines the suggested pay reductions, I do not believe his or her heart will bleed with sympathy for those concerned, particularly as we are working down from such an extraordinarily high level. The country is in crisis, but judges, hospital consultants, county managers, the President and Members of this House will continue to enjoy pay and pensions that would literally make our EU counterparts' eyes water. For example, British hospital consultants working within the NHS are paid less than half that of their Irish counterparts. That is utterly scandalous.

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