Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)

Military judges were also exempted from the provisions of the Act. The same sections of the Bill also make provision to remove the exemptions applying to a military judge from the application of the pension related deduction and pay under sections 3, 4 and 5. There is currently no serving military judge. In the context of developing the conditions of appointment of the next military judge, the pay adjustments have already been made. As a consequence, it is not necessary to apply the pay reductions again under section 6.

I am conscious of time and I will not go through all of the remaining provisions of the Bill. They are set out in my script and we will have a chance to go through them later in this debate.

Deputies should be aware that many of the remuneration provisions in the Bill for consideration today were included in the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme) and Remuneration Bill 2011, which was published in September and passed on Second Stage in the House. I consider it more appropriate and expedient from a legislative and administrative viewpoint that all remuneration provisions be dealt with in a single dedicated enactment. Through this means, I hope to facilitate the enactment of the Bill in time to apply the pay reductions, as I have indicated, from 1 January next. Accordingly, the necessary changes to reflect this transfer from the Public Service Pensions (Single Scheme) and Remuneration Bill 2011 will be made on Committee Stage. We will simply delete those sections that are now transposed into this Bill.

The Government is committed to continued stabilisation in the overall cost of the public service pay bill. The provisions set out in the Bill before the House are in keeping with that objective and will provide greater equity in the application of public sector pay policy. I look forward to hearing the views of the House on the Bill and to considering amendments and suggestions put forward by Deputies. I commend this Bill to the House.

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